Compostela Valley was not regularly frequented by typhoons. This was cited by survivors as the reason why evacuation was not implemented in most areas. Despite warnings and preparations by communities against the typhoon, a total of 612 people died in Compostela Valley due to Typhoon Pablo (international name, Bopha), mostly in Barangay Andap, in the municipality of New Bataan. New Bataan is a small agricultural town of mostly farmers on banana plantations, with a size of 553.15 km2 and a population of 47,470 people. After Typhoon Pablo’s onslaught, Barangay Andap in New Bataan was buried under a pile of rocks and boulders. Barangay Andap is situated on an alluvial fan at the mouth of a mountain drainage network at the base of steep slopes—a location favorable for a debris flow.
Computer visualization of the debris flow that occured in Barangay Andap.
Heavy rains brought by the typhoon caused flooding on December 4, which carried eroded gravel, boulders, and other debris from the mountains down to the community. Barangay Andap was buried under 5 meters of debris. Roads to the town were impassable due to landslides. Several survivor accounts also stated individuals being swept away by the flashfloods and debris. Unfortunately, more than 500 refugees were sheltered in an evacuation center in Barangay Andap. All of the evacuees perished from the debris flows.
What was once the center of Barangay Andap in New Bataan, Compostela Valley province is now a new riverbed with an estimated width of nearly a kilometer stretching up to eight kilometers down to the town proper. Typhoon Pablo brought flashflood in this town on Tuesday, leaving over a hundred persons killed and hundreds still missing. Source: Mindanews. Photo by: Ruby Thursday.
NDRRMC. (2012). NDRRMC SitRep No. 38 re Effects of Typhoon “PABLO” (Bopha). NDRRMC Update.
AMF Lagmay, RN Eco, J Alconis, B Salvio. (2012). What hit Barangay Andap, New Bataan, Compostela Valley (Initial Assessment). NOAH Open File Reports.
NSO. (2010). 2010 Census of Population and Housing. National Statistics Office. Total Population by Province, City, Municipality and Barangay: as of May 1, 2010.