ORMOC CITY— A landslide caused by continuous rains forced the evacuation of some 40 families or more than 200 individuals in Salcedo Ville, Barangay Tagbacan, Salcedo, Eastern Samar. 

Salcedo Mayor Ma. Rochelle Mergal said on Facebook that the rains brought by the low pressure area caused the soil to soften, resulting in a landslide that hit several blocks in the village and carried away several houses on Wednesday morning. 

A landslide hits Salcedo Ville, Eastern Samar

Mergal said she was glad that none of the families in the area were injured.

The families have since been brought to safer ground. 

Eastern Samar Gov. Ben Evardone visited the village and told the locals that he would call the San Miguel Development Corporation, the contractor of the housing village, so that it could assess the situation and take appropriate action.

Farmer drowns in Leyte floods

Meanwhile, a farmer collecting coconuts in Leyte drowned in floods when the Ugbon River overflowed due to continuous heavy rains due to the low pressure area.

Neighbors found the body of 54-year-old Edito Arcenal.

Leyte police chief Capt. Rushty Alvarado said initial investigation revealed that Arcenal was last seen by his relatives on Tuesday afternoon when he went to the river to collect fallen coconuts. 

When he failed to return home later in the day, his wife Emme Villegas began to worry and decided to search for him, to no avail. 

Their neighbors joined the search the following day and found his body floating in the river. 

Personnel from the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office brought his body to the Rural Health Unit, where he was declared dead. 

Rains over Visayas 

Provinces in the Visayas are expected to have cloudy skies with scattered rain showers and thunderstorms due to the shear line, or the convergence of northeasterly and easterly winds that forms rain clouds

Floods or landslides are possible due to moderate to heavy rains.