THE death toll from tropical cyclones “Ferdie,” “Gener,” and “Helen” and the southwest monsoon they enhanced has risen to 23 persons with 15 other persons still missing, the National Disaster Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said yesterday.

Two of the three additional deaths were in the Zamboanga Peninsula region while the third was in the Central Visayas region.

Helen, the country’s last tropical cyclone, exited the Philippine area of responsibility on Wednesday afternoon but continued to enhance the southwest monsoon as of yesterday morning.

PAGASA weather specialist Benison Estareja said they are monitoring cloud clusters in the eastern and western part of the country. He said low pressure areas may develop from these cloud clusters in the coming days.

The NDRRMC said overall, there were nine reported dead in Mimaropa; four each in Zamboanga Peninsula, Western Visayas, and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao; and two in Central Visayas.

These deaths are still subject to further validation, the NDRRMC said.

The NDRRMC said 15 are still missing in three regions — 12 in Mimaropa, two in Zamboanga Peninsula, and one in Western Visayas.

The NDRRM started monitoring the effects of the southwest monsoon on September 13. However, it later included the effects of tropical storm Ferdie and tropical depressions Gener and Helen in its monitoring since these tropical cyclones have enhanced the southwest monsoon.

The NDRRMC said 298,633 families or 1,061,421 persons were affected in 1,441 barangays in 12 regions, led by Central Luzon (113,141 families or 354,926 persons) and Western Visayas (73,512 families or 256,593 persons).

Of the number, 81,192 families or 362,938 persons were displaced, the NDRRMC said. As of yesterday, the number was down to 32,631 families or 130,483 persons.

The NDRRMC said the weather systems caused flooding in 142 areas in 10 regions. Flooding in 73 of these areas has subsided as of yesterday.

The Department of Agriculture said initial cost of damage to the agriculture sector from the combined effects of the enhanced southwest monsoon and Ferdie is at P107.4 million, which is equivalent to 4,749 metric tons (MT) of goods tended by farmers and fisherfolk in 1,646 hectares in the Mimaropa, Western Visayas and Zamboanga Peninsula regions.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health said it is bracing for another potential surge in leptospirosis cases in the country.

“DOH reports a decreasing trend in the number of leptospirosis cases… but this may change due to incoming reports due to the recent typhoon and inclement weather,” it said.

On the decreasing trend, 1,726 cases were reported from July 28 to August 10,   396 cases from August 11 to 24, and 124 cases from August 25 to September 7. – With Jed Macapagal and Gerard Naval