Luzon provinces still reel from storms’ havoc
The series of storms that hit the country has left many provinces in Luzon still reeling from massive floods and destruction, resulting in at least P5 billion in damages to public infrastructure and some P1.49 billion to agriculture.
Torrential rains spawned by Tropical Storms “Crising” (international name: Wipha), “Dante” (Francisco) and “Emong” (Co-may) and the southwest monsoon (“habagat”) left P5.25 billion in public infrastructure damages, including nine national road sections of the Cordillera, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) reported on Friday.
Initial reports from local disaster risk reduction and management offices (DRRMOs) said the damage to agriculture were placed at P959 million in Pampanga, P350 million in Pangasinan, P143 million in Bulacan, P27 million in Zambales, P11.6 million in Bicol and P11 million in the Cordillera.
In Pangasinan, its central towns and Dagupan City were still heavily flooded as of Sunday, while the western towns and Alaminos City were still without electricity.
Pangasinan Gov. Ramon Guico III said the twin calamities caused substantial damage to infrastructure and agriculture but did not result in casualties because of preventive evacuation of residents in affected areas, before the water rose and the strong wind toppled down trees and power lines. At least 14 towns and two cities in Pangasinan were under state of calamity.
A report of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council showed that initial damage to agriculture has reached almost P350 million, while P3.6 million worth of livestock was lost. Initial report on damage to infrastructure in Pangasinan was pegged at almost P420 million.
In La Union province, which has also been placed in a state of calamity, electricity also still to be restored on Sunday.
Pampanga’s woes
In Pampanga, floodwaters in its coastal towns were hardly draining into Manila Bay, blocked by a high tide that rose by up to 1.4 meters (4.9 feet) on Sunday morning, said Jomel Cruz, head of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office in Macabebe town.
Macabebe residents have resumed using wooden bancas as a means of transport, he said, as floodwaters peaked at 1.6 meters (5.5 feet) in Barangay Tacasan on the heels of the three successive storms and southwest monsoon rains.
Out of 505 villages in Pampanga, 278 were flooded in 18 towns and cities, the Provincial DRRMO reported on Saturday. The floods and rains affected 693,606 people, 6,991 of whom sought refuge in 156 evacuation centers.
Damage to crops and fisheries totaled P959.2 million, at P5.6 million for livestock, and P432 million for public infrastructures such as dams, dikes and bridges, the PDRMMO said.
Mega dike
In Bulacan, almost half of its 24 towns and cities were submerged in up to 1.8 meters (6 feet) of water on Saturday, mainly caused by Manila Bay’s high tide. Already, the province’s agricultural sector had to deal with losses reaching P143 million, local authorities said.
Gov. Daniel Fernando believed that only the proposed Mega Dike Costal Road Flood Control Project would end the worsening floods that Manila Bay’s waters bring to every low-lying town in Bulacan, and those in the adjacent provinces of Pampanga and Bataan.
He said the mega dike project, which was jointly proposed last year by the three provincial governments, will start from the coastal cities of Metro Manila and will traverse the coastal municipalities and cities of Pampanga and Bataan, which will seal their respective rivers with steel walls and dikes to stop the water coming from Manila Bay from entering the rivers and communities in the three provinces. The project proposal will also include the construction of water pumping stations that will drain to the sea the rainwater from the Sierra Madre mountain ranges.
Fernando said they planned to hold a flooding and water summit this week to “finally address our years of high tide and flooding nightmare and sufferings” and to ask the national government to fast-track the construction of the mega dike.
Zambales, meanwhile, recorded P27 million in agriculture losses, P24.6 million of which was on rice fields, its Office of Provincial Agriculturist (OPA) reported on Saturday.
Last week’s heavy rainfall and storm surges also destroyed boats and gears affecting thousands of farmers and fishermen, the OPA added.
Crop losses
In the Cordillera, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said that of the P11-million damage to agriculture, around P7 million was in Benguet province where most of Metro Manila’s salad vegetables like cabbages, cauliflower, lettuce and broccoli are grown.
But constant rains affected mostly rice, based on DA’s determination, which cost the whole country P1.1 billion in crop and farm losses, the DA Cordillera office said in its social media page.
Vegetables continued to be shipped down from mountain gardens. As of Saturday, all major Cordillera mountain roads were open for travelers except for a portion of the Governor Bado Dangwa National Road along Datakan in Barangay Labueg, Kapangan town in Benguet province and four sections of the Lubuagan-Batongbuhay Road in the Kalinga town of Pasil, the DPWH reported.
In Baguio City, all roads leading to the summer capital were now open, including Kennon Road, which reopened to light vehicles on Sunday.
In Bicol, nearly 400,000 people were affected by the combined effects of the habagat and three weather disturbances, the region’s Office of Civil Defense (OCD) said.
Some 88,896 families or 393,972 individuals from 415 barangays in the region were affected, displacing about 929 families (3,378 people), with 293 families (1,014 individuals) still in 26 evacuation centers, said a report released on Saturday by Gremil Alexis Naz, OCD Bicol information officer.
As of Saturday, six barangays —four in Libon, Albay and two in Ragay, Camarines Sur—remained submerged in floodwater.
The DA in Bicol reported P11.46 million in damages to crops, farm equipment, and machinery in Catanduanes, Masbate, Camarines Sur and Sorsogon. —WITH REPORTS FROM YOLANDA SOTELO, VINCENT CABREZA, TONETTE OREJAS, CARMELA REYES-ESTROPE, JOANNA ROSE AGLIBOT AND MICHAEL JAUCIAN
