Floods displace Negros Occidental residents anew

Hundreds of residents in Negros Occidental, many of them former evacuees from Kanlaon's June eruption, fled their homes in La Castellana beginning Sunday, August 31, after heavy rain triggered floods laden with volcanic debris.

Water from the Tamburong Creek overflowed into three villages, affecting some 128 families, with officials blaming silted waterways clogged with lahar and volcanic debris.

The lahar-filled Tamburong Creek, formerly known as Ibid Creek, forced rainwater to creep into other localities.

The Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office reported that around 20 houses in Barangay Biak-na-Bato were affected by the flooding.

Evacuations were also prompted in the villages of Robles and Sag-ang due to the rising floodwaters.

While about 445 evacuees had returned to their homes by Tuesday, September 2, residents remain fearful of more flooding if heavy or successive rains occur.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) had previously lowered Kanlaon's alert status to Level 2 from 3, but 38 families remain barred from resettling in their villages inside the permanent four-kilometer danger zone.