‘BISING’ DEATH TOLL RISES TO 3

THE country’s national disaster council on Wednesday reported another fatality brought by typhoon “Bising” (international name: Surigae), leaving 10 injured and one missing in various affected regions and incurring more than P55 million worth of damage.

In its situational report, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) identified the third fatality as a 19-year-old female from Barangay Sacub, Hagonoy, Davao del Sur, who died after an incident of strong winds that uprooted a tree.

The council also recorded several more injured persons coming from Davao del Sur and Camarines Norte, mostly due to fallen trees and being hit by electric posts. The missing person was the same one the NDRRMC reported from San Jose, Northern Samar.

There were 1,022 houses damaged in Bicol, Eastern Visayas and Caraga regions, with 84 totally damaged and 938 partially.

Evacuees have reached a total of 44,397 families or 169,072 persons in Cagayan, Bicol, Eastern Visayas and Caraga regions, or regions located at the country’s eastern part.

At the same time, the NDRRMC reported 59,098 families or 229,829 individuals were affected by the weather disturbance in the affected regions.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), in its latest forecast, said the typhoon was moving northwestward at 10 kilometers per hour and the center of the eye was located at 360 kilometers east of Tuguegarao City, Cagayan.

It has maximum sustained winds of 175 kilometers per hour near the center with gustiness of up to 215 kilometers per hour.

Pagasa also forecasted the typhoon would “gradually weaken” and “will likely be” downgraded to severe tropical storm by Saturday and tropical storm by Sunday. “Bising” is expected to exit the Philippine Area of Responsibility on Saturday evening or Sunday morning.