Author: Jun Ariolo Aguirre (304 Articles)

TWENTY domestic flights bound for Caticlan—gateway to the famous Boracay Island resort—Romblon and Kalibo remained canceled yesterday as a result of continuing rain, airport officials said yesterday.
Another 50-seater Zest Air plane overshot the runway in Caticlan, which was closed by floodwaters, yesterday, but it wasn’t clear why and nobody was injured, a local official said. A Zest Air plane missed the same runway in April.
Heavy rain and strong winds continued to batter Romblon and Aklan, forcing all flights to their airports to be canceled, Manila airport manager Alfonso Cusi said.
Cebu Pacific’s flights for Cebu in the afternoon and evening were still on hold due to the strong winds and heavy rain brought on by typhoon Feria, he said.
The canceled flights were Zest Air’s flights to Tablas, Romblon, and Kalibo, Aklan; Cebu Pacific’s flights to Caticlan, Romblon, Aklan and their return flights to Manila, and Philippine Airlines’ flights to Caticlan, Romblon and Aklan and their return flights to Manila.
More than 3,000 passengers were stranded by the canceled flights, Cusi said, but added all international flights from Manila’s Terminals 1, 2 and 3 were on schedule.
Feria—international name Nangka—left seven people dead and eight others missing even as it regained strength and intensified into a tropical storm over the South China Sea.
Disaster officials said the storm displaced some 53,000 people and destroyed P2.5 million worth of infrastructure and P300,000 worth of crops. Vito Barcelo, Jun Ariolo Aguirre, Florante S. Solmerin, Rio N. Araja

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