BAGUIO CITY – The Cordillera office of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) here said landslides in the different roads leading to this mountain resort city have isolated the summer capital from the rest of the Cordillera and other parts of Northern Luzon.

Authorities said continuous heavy rains from storms "Ondoy" and "Pepeng" have been aggravated by the sudden turnaround of Pepeng which still hovers over the Cagayan, Ilocos Norte, and Ilocos Sur provinces.

As of lunchtime yesterday, all roads leading to Baguio – Kennon Road, Marcos Highway, Naguilian Road, Benguet-Nueva Vizcaya Road and the famous Halsema Highway – have been temporarily closed to vehicular traffic due to landslides.

Engineer Roy Manao, DPWH-CAR regional director, said the abnormal amount of rainfall in the region have loosened the soil in many mountainous areas, triggering landslides that have impeded the smooth flow of traffic and the transport of goods.

Major and minor landslides were recorded along the stretch of Kennon Road, the scenic zigzag route from the lowlands to the city, especially along the stretch of Camp 1 to 6.

Marcos Highway, the supposed all-weather road, suffered from landslides in the sections along Taloy Sur, Tuba, Benguet while Naguilian Road also had intermittent landslides along its stretch.

Along Halsema Highway, Manao said a portion at Km. 16 in Kaponga, Acop, Tublay, Benguet was reportedly washed out Thursday morning while the Sabangan section remains a close-open situation.

In the newly-rehabilitated Benguet-Nueva Vizcaya Road, which had a project cost of P1.7 billion, the DPWH-CAR noted several landslides from Baguio to Aritao, Nueva Vizcaya.

Just before lunch Thursday, a huge portion of the so-called Ketsup Mountain collapsed because of the continuous rains, burying at least 20 vehicles along Km. 3 in La Trinidad, Benguet.

Meanwhile, hundreds of families in Baguio were rendered homeless while hundreds of others are being readied for evacuation after a hilly section caved in due to the continuous heavy downpour in Purok 8 Sunnyside, Fairview.

Initially, 100 families living in the area were ordered to abandon their multi-million homes while over 200 others were told to institute measures brownoutsin their houses to prevent the widening of the cracks on the hill that might result to more damages in the future.

Experts from the Cordillera office of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau declared the sinking area in Fairview as a danger zone.

Barangay Fairview and nearby Barangay Pinsao are among the identified geohazard areas in this mountain resort city due to the existence of highly fractured rock and soil formations.

At the same time, over 100 families from the City Camp lagoon area who evacuated their houses when Pepeng made a turnaround have yet to return to their homes since flood waters in the area have not subsided.

The sinking of the village in Fairview and the flooding at the City Camp lagoon could also be attributed to the increased volume of rainfall that was recorded by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).