By HENRY EMPEÑO | 

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — One person died while another one was reported missing after several landslides occurred in this Freeport and nearby Olongapo City as Tropical Depression Josie battered Central Luzon on Sunday.

According to the Olongapo City Information Office, 35- year old Maria Veronica Rafael died when their house along Otero Avenue collapsed in a landslide as heavy rains softened the hilly residential area at Barangay Mabayuan on Sunday night.

Five other persons who were trapped in the house with Rafael were reported to be injured, but were eventually brought out to safety.

Meanwhile, an unidentified worker remains missing in a massive landslide that occurred at dawn on Monday along Aparri Road in this free port, according to a report from the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).

At least three major landslides were reported along major roads in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, and another three in Olongapo City.

SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said SBMA rescue workers have already pulled one victim out of the muddy debris at about 6:50 a.m. on Monday, but another, believed to be a watchman for the Vieva Sun International Trading and Development Corp., has yet to be found as of presstime.

Eisma added that members of the SBMA Emergency Response Team have also rescued one family at the Vieva Sun compound at about 3:50 a.m. after the landslide occurred.

In Olongapo, another landslide survivor, a 15-year old male, was reportedly found by rescuers inside a void space after another landslide engulfed their home in Barangay Santa Rita.

Heavy rains caused by TD Josie and “habagat”, and abetted by high tide, also caused flooding in 16 of the 17 barangays in Olongapo, as well as low-lying areas of the Subic Bay Freeport Zone starting Sunday morning.

At 9:00 a.m. that day, SBMA Chairman Eisma stopped  the then ongoing Salomon Xtrail Run at the El Kabayo and Pamulaklakin forest areas because the participants were in danger of having to cross swollen streams.

In Olongapo, a total of 661 families composed of 2,088 persons sought safety in a total of 20 evacuation centers in various barangays, as floodwaters reached neck-deep in some areas.

The SBMA Emergency Response Team also fielded trucks and equipment to help stalled vehicles in flooded areas, particularly at the Tipo Road-Maritan Highway junction leading to the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, and assisted in evacuating residents from flooded areas in Olongapo City.

Rescue teams from the SBMA worked around the clock to clear eroded areas and remove fallen trees for the safety of passing vehicles.

 

TOP PHOTO: Aerial photo shows the devastation caused by a landslide on July 22 at the Aparri Road in the Subic Bay Freeport (Photo by Fred Pacuan)