TAGUDIN, Ilocos Sur – Six upland municipalities of the province were isolated anew due to the fresh landslides that buried municipal roads leading to the mountainous towns, officials said on Saturday.

The isolated towns are San Emilio, where part of a bridge was washed out by flood; Quirino, Pilar, Cervantes, Sugpon, and Angki.

This developed as tropical storm “Ramil” continues to veer away from the country and is heading towards Taiwan.

Chief Superintendent Ramon V. Gatan, Ilocos region police director, said that based on the reports gathered by his men in the field the Cervantes-Quirino road is not passable to all types of vehicles after major landslide buried the highway in Quirino section, thus isolating tens of thousands of residents in the area.

In Cervantes-Aluling road, Gatan said this major route was also cut off after it was washed out by floodwaters brought about by continued rains in the mountainous areas. A large portion of the road was also blanketed by mud and big rocks.

The major national road linking Ilocos Sur to Benguet along the Cervantes-Mankayan road was also not passable to all types of vehicles after it was covered by tons of mud and boulders brought about by landslides in the area. Gatan said they are monitoring the road condition to let the public aware of its situation.

Second District engineer Ray Elaydo of the Department of Public Works and Highways, told the Manila Bulletin on Saturday that they are now fast-tracking the restoration of the Asudan Bridge in San Emilio town after its approach was totally eroded by flashfloods. He said that they were instructed by Representative Eric Singson to immediately restore the bridge so that the commuters going to upland towns can pass through it as soon as possible.

“Our operations were just hampered by a bulldozer that was buried by mud right on top of the Asudan Bridge, so we cannot just passby to work to the other damaged bridges and roads,” said Elaydo. It was not known if the bulldozer operator was also buried.

Major slides and road cuts at San Emilio-Quirino-Cervantes road were also reported, rendering it impassable to all types of vehicles.

In Santa town’s Manila-North road, Elaydo said that slope protection here was also eroded, particularly at Kilometer 383+800, Pideg Section, Santa, Ilocos Sur. Only one lane is passable.

While landslides have isolated the six Ilocos Sur towns, evacuees in Northern Luzon started their trek home as tropical storm “Ramil” continues to veer away from the country.

On Saturday, thousands of residents in several provinces in northern Luzon who earlier evacuated to evade the fury of Ramil started to go back to their homes after the weather disturbance did not make the expected landfall as it changed course while slowly moving away from Philippine territory.

Lieutenant Colonel Ernesto Torres, Jr., spokesman of the National Disaster and Coordinating Council (NDCC), said they received reports of good weather condition in the very areas which were expected to be hit by the weather disturbance.

Quoting report from the Army’s 501st Brigade, Torres said evacuation of residents in flood and landslide prone areas has already been suspended in the provinces of Cagayan, Kalinga and Apayao.

“At this point, all those who evacuated were already advised to go back to their communities,” said Torres.

“All DRRUs (disaster response and rescue unit) have been advised to pullout and return to their respected base because the DRRO (disaster response and rescue operations) have already been terminated this morning (Saturday), he added.

The only effects felt by local residents in Cagayan, Torres said, were the power interruption in the towns of Rizal and Sta. Ana.

In La Union, Torres said a total of 700 persons who were earlier evacuated from their homes located near the river in Barangay Mindoro in Bangar town were already advised that it is already safe to go back home.

But since Ramil has not yet totally moved out of the country’s area of responsibility, Torres said local disaster officials in other affected areas are still conducting assessments to determine if they would lift the typhoon alert.

“The weather disturbance is already moving out but the prepositioning of relief goods, manpower, equipment, medicine are all still in place,” said Torres.