Dubai: It was a long, sleepless night for Filipino residents in Dubai who had family members in the typhoon-hit Aurora, a province north of Manila.
Typhoon Utor, the strongest tropical cyclone to hit the Philippines this year, ravaged northern Luzon on Monday, leaving at least one person dead and 42 people missing. The typhoon struck 45 kilometres west of Aurora province causing deadly landslides, floods, power outages, and damage to infrastructure.
Marilou Valencia, 57, a housewife based in Dubai, said she has not slept since Sunday night because she was worried about her family’s safety in Casiguran.
Casiguran, a municipality in Aurora, has become isolated and unreachable due to landslides that blocked the single road leading to town.
“I couldn’t sleep. I stayed up the whole night trying to get news from home. But I haven’t been able to contact my family until now,” Valencia told Gulf News on Monday afternoon.
“I freeze in shock just looking at the damages caused by the typhoon in the news,” she added.
Local news reported that trees were uprooted and landed on houses. Roads, bridges and schools were also damaged.
“My mum is 73 years old. I am really worried for her safety,”
Ailyn Alonzo, a housemaid in Dubai, has not stopped calling her family in Aurora since Monday morning but to no avail.
“Our village is located near a river which is our only way to the town. The river could easily swell and become impassable making delivery of services and food impossible. So I’m really worried,” she told Gulf News.
Although Rizza Serrano’s family in Aurora is safe and sound, her mother’s house was not spared. Its walls had been blown by Utor’s strong winds which blew at 200 km/ph. But she still counts herself lucky that the damage to their house wasn’t as bad as the previous typhoons.
