246 villages still submerged
‘Lando’ weakens but 800 other low-lying areas at risk
While flooding has subsided in some parts of Central Luzon, at least 246 villages in four provinces in Region 3 and in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan, remain submerged as typhoon “Lando,” now downgraded to a tropical storm, finally blew away from the landmass of Northern Luzon yesterday, leaving at least 30 people dead and forcing more than 107,000 villagers into evacuation centers and damaging at least P5.3 billion in agriculture products and infrastructure.
While the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) placed the official death toll at 18, reports from the field indicate that at least 30 people died as a result of the typhoon.
Aside from the 246 villages, disaster officials said floodwaters also swamped 15 towns in Cagayan, affecting at least 20,000 people.
Disaster-response agencies warned that there was still a danger that rains dumped by Lando (international name: Koppu) in mountain areas may flood rivers and
put hundreds of downstream villages at risk.
President Aquino had earlier warned that a lot of this rainfall that fell on the northern portion of Luzon will be coming down and will be affecting all of these barangays near the major river systems.
800 villages threatened Aquino, who flew to hard-hit Nueva Ecija last Monday to check on the flooding and distribute food packs, said there were still worries that up to 800 villages could be threatened if rivers become overwhelmed by rainwater flowing down from northern mountain provinces.
Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) weather forecaster Aldczar Aurelio said Lando will continue to bring moderate to heavy rains, and to at times intense rains over Northern Luzon, particularly the western section until today, while Central Luzon will have cloudy skies with light to moderate rains.
By Wednesday until Thursday, stormy weather will still be experienced over the Batanes Group of Islands while the provinces of Ilocos Norte, Apayao, and Cagayan will still be having rains with gusty winds.
PAGASA reported that as of noon yesterday the center of Lando was located 120 kilometers (km) west of Calayan, Cagayan, with maximum sustained winds of 85 kilometers per hour (kph) and gustiness of up to 100 kph.
It left the country’s landmass through Ilocos Norte Monday evening and continues to move northeast slowly at 4 kph.
Signal No. 2 remains hoisted over Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Apayao, Abra, Batanes, Northern Cagayan, including Calayan and Babuyan group of Islands.
Areas under Signal No. 1 are: La Union, Pangasinan, Kalinga, Mountain Province, Ifugao, Benguet, Nueva Vizcaya, Isabela, and the rest of Cagayan.
Office of Civil Defense (OCD) Assistant Regional Director Nigel Lontoc, acting chairman of the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council in Region 3 (RDRRMC3), said barangays (villages) that remain flooded are the provinces of Nueva Ecija (146), Pampanga (44), Bulacan (29), and Zambales (4).
Also flooded are 23 barangays in Tuguegarao City, Provincial Board Member Vilmer Viloria said.
Initial reports from the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) in Cagayan showed that in Tuguegarao City alone, at least 5,274 families composed of 26,484 individuals were affected by the massive flooding.
Aside from the victims of flood, Lando’s strong winds and intense rains also displaced around 74,308 families or 361,546 persons in 517 barangays in Central Luzon seven provinces.
Yesterday, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Pangasinan placed the province under the state of calamity.
More rice may be imported With the extent of damage in Central Luzon, the grain-producing region, the country could be forced to import more rice, a senior agriculture official said on Tuesday.
Official preliminary estimates on losses stood at around 412,000 tonnes of paddy rice, accounting for about 5 percent of the government’s forecast fourth quarter harvest of 7.95 million tonnes. A final figure is expected in around a week.
“If you ask me if we need to import more, I would say ‘yes’, but up to what volume and when, I don’t know,” Edilberto de Luna, Department of Agriculture assistant secretary for field operations, told Reuters on Tuesday.
“This is a significant volume because the typhoon hit our major rice-producing provinces.” Improved preparedness While the government’s disaster response to communities affected by typhoon Lando has been anything but slow, President Aquino yesterday took pride of improved preparedness of national government and local government units.
Even before the typhoon made landfall in Luzon last weekend, the President said the government was able to proposition relief goods and other equipment in places on the path of the typhoon and coordinate closely with local government units in disaster preparations.
UN recognition
In fact, the United Nations (UN) lauded the preparedness of the Philippine government for the onslaught of Lando that led to minimized damage to life and property.
The UN agencies also expressed readiness to assist the Philippine government in the aftermath of Lando.
In a statement, the UN said its World Food Program (WFP), with support from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), provided the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) with transportation for thousands of family food packs to affected communities.
Margareta Wahlström of UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) praised the Philippine government for its efforts to reduce mortality and the numbers of people affected by the typhoon.
“The communication of early warnings in the Philippines has improved significantly since typhoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) claimed over 6,000 lives in November 2013. Last December, major loss of life was averted by large-scale evacuations in the face of typhoon Hagupit,” said Ms. Wahlström.
“Now again this weekend, government agencies have been successful in reducing loss of life through the effective communication of early warnings and organizing targeted evacuations in the areas most affected by typhoon Koppu,” she said, noting that President Aquino’s broadcast to the nation last Friday “was especially important in alerting the population to the threat.”
“The Philippines is the most storm-exposed country in the world and its expertise in disaster risk management can be usefully adopted by other countries trying to implement the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction adopted in March this year as a global blueprint for reducing disaster losses,” she added. (With reports from Elena L. Aben, Jonas Reyes, Reuters, Genalyn D. Kabiling, Madel S. Namit, Liezle Iñigo, and Ariel Avendaño)