BUTUAN CITY, Agusan del Norte —Heavy rain, flood and landslides destroyed a stretch of the national highway linking two provinces of the Caraga region, forcing people to walk or pitch camp on the roadside on the eve of New Year’s day, officials said on Wednesday.
Juliet Cinco, Disaster Risk Reduction Officer of Sibagat town in Agusan del Sur, said the government sent work crews to make repairs but the damage caused by Typhoon Seniang was extensive it would be easier to build a new road.
damaged by landslides in Sibagat town in Agusan del Sur.
ALVIN GUANZON
“The concrete highway was reduced to slabs that littered the mountainside. The highway was pried from the earth and revealed lack of steel bars to keep it intact,” Cinco said.
The damage was about half a kilometer long that covered about three Agusan del Sur barangays — Tabon-Tabon, El Riuo and Mahayahay — and stretching toward the provincial boundary with Butuan City in Agusan del Norte. Thousands of stranded vehicles lined up the highway several kilometers.
Thousands of people were stranded in both sides of the damage areas for the past three days. By Wednesday morning only light cars and motorcycles managed to pass through.
Nicholas Alladin, Barangay Chairman of Hamogaway in Sibagat, said the line of vehicles were getting longer and the crowd walking on the road has become bigger as people tried to get home to celebrate the New Year and many of them were unaware of the damage.
“We hope they can solve the monstrous jam that back up cars for more than two kilometers and still growing longer. I am certain many people will spend New Year on the highway because of the slow response to solve the problem,” Alladin said.
This reporter sought officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Butuan City to find out if they were aware of the problem in Sibagat, but the office was closed because of the holiday.
The typhoon also topped power pylons and street electric posts that plunged many areas in Agusan del Sur and Agusan del Norte into darkness and it was likely residents will spend the New Year without electricity, officials said.
Melfrance Capulong, communication officer of the National Grid Corp, which provide power to local electric cooperatives, said it would take at least three days to make repairs to restore its service.
Surigao del Norte Governor Sol Forcadilla Matugas said the power was cut off when Seniang battered the area last December 29 and “residents have been groping in the dark ever since.”
In Butuan City, residents said they also do not have water supply so they will be powerless and waterless when they welcome 2015.