‘Habagat’ damage hits 12.4 B; no end in sight yet for Calumpit floods

Disaster officials said yesterday that the damage wrought by over a week of heavy rains spawned by the “habagat” or southwest monsoon in Luzon has reached at least 12.4 billion, while back flooding continues to torment Calumpit, Bulacan – the catch-basin of floodwater from neighboring provinces of Nueva Ecija and Pampanga.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said that due to the habagat, enhanced by recent tropical cyclones “Henry” “Inday,” and “Josie,” torrential rains damaged 12,402,477,140.95 worth of infrastructure and agriculture in six regions of Luzon and one region in the Visayas.

NDRRMC Executive Director Ricardo B. Jalad, also Office of Civil Defense (OCD) administrator, said the affected areas were Regions 1,2,3, 4-A (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon or CALABARZON), 4-B (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, and Palawan or MIMAROPA), the Cordillera Autonomous Region (CAR); and 6 (Western Visayas).

Jalad said infrastructure damage reached 1572,771,800 while losses in agriculture summed up to 11,829,705.95.

Families affected Jalad said the number of families affected by flooding reached 381,757 or 1,677,790 persons spread out in 1,479 barangays in the regions mentioned earlier to include Metro Manila.

Jalad said of the total number of families affected, 153,390 families or 639,179 persons are being served inside and outside evacuation centers.

In Bulacan, the affected families stood at 33,817 or 77,818 individuals.

Calumpit’s woes

As of yesterday, backflooding coupled with high tide has kept Calumpit, Bulacan under water.

Barangay Frances, the worst-hit area, is still submerged in up to 5 feet of floodwater which comes from Nueva Ecija and Pampanga.

The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Office (PDRRMO) of Bulacan said the number of evacuees from Calumpit rose to 985 families or 3,781 individuals due to backflooding coupled with high tide.

The PDRRMO said still all 29 barangays of the town are inundated with the additional evacuees coming from the villages of Meysulao, Piocruzcosa, Calizon, Gugo, San Miguel, Gatbuca, Iba 'O' Este Northville 9, Sapang Bayan, and Poblacion.

The Calumpit-Hagonoy road still not passable to light vehicles due to backfloods and high tide.

Acting Bulacan Governor Daniel R. Fernando said local officials are closely monitoring the Pampanga River Basin 1 and water level stations because after Calumpit, the towns of Hagonoy and Paombong will likely be affected by backflooding if the rains do no stop.

More rains – PAGASA The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said prevailing weak southwest monsoon will bring scattered rains and thunderstorms over the western sections of Luzon today.

PAGASA said Metro Manila, Aurora, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac, Zambales, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon, Palawan, Oriental Mindoro, and Occidental Mindoro will experience cloudy skies with scattered rains and thunderstorms.

Meanwhile, the rest of the country will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rain showers due to localized thunderstorms.

Bataan still flooded

In Bataan, the PDRRMO reported that a total of 1212 million worth of infrastructure were damaged, including 82 houses. The death toll stood at seven.

Citing reports from Josefina Timoteo, PDRRMO head, Philippine Information Agency (PIA)-Bataan Manager Jose Mari Garcia said that some parts of the province were still under water.

Garcia said that a total of 133,991 persons were affected by the typhoons.

Pangasinan rehab

In Pangasinan, Governor Amado I. Espino has directed the concerned department heads of the provincial government to prepare posthaste the rehabilitation program.

Governor Espino said that the provincial government is now preparing the terminal report and rehab program in coordination with local government units which have been affected by the flood citing that the initial reports on the extent of damages to agriculture has already reached 1700 million and 1500 million on damages to infrastructure. (With reports from Ellalyn B. de Vera-Ruiz, Mar T. Supnad, and Liezle Basa Iñigo)