ABOUT 3,000 families or some 9,000 individuals have been evacuated in Cagayan province due to flooding caused by severe tropical storm “Florita” which exited the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) yesterday morning, less than 24 hours after making landfall in adjacent Isabela province.
The Cagayan evacuees are from 131 barangays in 19 towns, and mostly from low-lying areas that get flooded whenever the Cagayan river overflows, said Ruelie Rapsing, head of the Cagayan provincial disaster risk reduction and management office.
Rapsing said some of the evacuees left their houses because of floods at the height of Florita while others, he said, were preemptively evacuated due to anticipated flooding in their areas.
“The advice given to them is they may go back to their houses once the flooding recedes in their barangays,” he said.
Rapsing said officials of the affected areas have been distributing relief goods to the evacuees. The provincial government has prepositioned food and non-food items in case the municipalities request for additional supplies, and personnel from the provincial health office are extending services to make sure no evacuee will get sick while in evacuation centers.
He also said no fatality was reported in the province and there were only “three minor injuries.“
“They were injured due to fallen tree branches, just minor injuries, no serious injuries,” he said.
Five roads and nine bridges were initially declared unpassable though most of them were already passable as of yesterday noon.
“These are secondary barangay roads only. These are not national highways. All national highways (in the province) are passable,” said Rapsing.
He said power was down during the onslaught of Florita but it was restored a few hours later. He said communication lines in the province were not affected by Florita.
Rapsing said weather in the province improved yesterday although it was still windy with isolated rain showers. He the water level at Cagayan river was also going down.
ISABELA, ILOCOS NORTE
In Isabela, the provincial disaster risk reduction and management office said the number of evacuees was now down to six families or 24 persons as of yesterday.
The province on Tuesday reported 285 families or 1,067 families were evacuated.
There are also no reported deaths of injuries reported in Isabela.
In Ilocos Norte, provincial disaster risk reduction and management office chief Marcell Tabije reported a P3.6-million damage to agriculture.
Tabije also said two bridges were damaged but could not immediately say the estimated cost. He said all roads in the province are passable.
No houses were reported damaged in Ilocos Norte, added Tabije.
Tabije said there were residents who evacuated due to the storm but are already back to their homes as weather has improved.
Michael Conag, information officer of the Office of Civil Defense of the the Cagayan Valley region, said some low-lying areas in Cagayan were still flooded as of yesterday. He said these areas are usually flooded when they experience rains.
“We have no isolated communities as of now. As per monitoring of the DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways), all national roads (in the region) are passable,” said Conag.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said 30 areas in Ilocos region and Bicol region were flooded but floods in 20 of the areas have subsided and receding in four areas. Only six areas remain flooded as of 8 a.m. yesterday.
NDRRMC spokesman Mark Timbal said five landslide incidents were reported in Ilocos region and Bicol region. “The landslides fortunately did not lead to casualties,” he said.
The NDRRMC reported a lower number of affected population. It said only 1,344 families or 4,646 individuals were affected by Florita in the Ilocos and Cagayan Valley regions and the Cordillera Administrative Region.
Of the number, 465 families or 1,529 are still displaced — 311 families or 956 individuals are still housed in 19 evacuation centers and 154 families or 573 individuals are staying with their relatives and friends.
DAMAGE TO AGRI
Damage to the agriculture sector from Florita was placed at P3.01 million, according to the Department of Agriculture’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Operations Center.
The DA attached agency said as of 7 AM yesterday (Aug. 24), Florita’s total cost of damage is equivalent to 220 metric tons of goods tended by 310 farmers in 628 hectares of affected areas.
Bulk of Florita’s recorded damage is from rice at P2.93 million, followed by high value crops at P81,000.
The DA said among assistance to be provided are rice, corn and assorted vegetable seeds; drugs and biologics for livestock and poultry; fingerlings and assistance to affected fisherfolk; credit from the Agricultural Credit Policy Council; and a quick response fund for the rehabilitation of affected areas.
Meanwhile, the Department of Energy (DOE) said that all grid-connected power generation plants in the affected areas of Florita are under normal operations.
The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) said its transmission lines and facilities in Northern Luzon are under normal operations despite the tripping of two 69-kilovolt lines that were immediately re-energized.
MONSOON RAINS
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said Florita exited the country at around 4 a.m. yesterday, about 18 hours after hitting land in Maconacon, Isabela.
In a bulletin issued at 5 a.m. yesterday, PAGASA maintained Signal No. 1 in 12 areas in northern Luzon even after the exit of Florita. The agency lifted the signal warning in the last bulletin for the storm issued at at 11 a.m. yesterday.
As of 10 a.m. yesterday, Florita was some 490 km west of Calayan in Cagayan and moving west northwestward at 25 kph.
PAGASA weather specialist Raymond Ordinario is Florita is no longer affecting any part of the country and rains experienced in the western section of Luzon are caused by the southwest monsoon.
Ordinario also said no storm is expected to develop within the next three days.
Social Welfare Secretary Erwin Tulfo said the Department of Social Welfare and Development is also monitoring the situation in some areas in Mindanao, like Zamboanga and Sarangani, that were affected by flash floods brought about by monsoon rains.
Social Welfare Undersecretary Marco Bautista said P1.113 million worth of assistance have been distributed to the affected families — P1.03 million from DSWD and P82,945 from local government units.
The government has on standby P1.759 billion worth of funds (P848.9 million) and stockpiles of family food packs (P290 million) and non-food items (P619.97 million).
PUMPING STATIONS
The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority assured the public that its pumping stations in strategic areas in the metropolis are fully operational.
MMDA acting chairman Carlo Dimayuga III made the assurance while inspecting the Libertad pumping station in Pasay City to check on its operations amid public concerns due to rains brought by Florita.
The MMDA operates 71 major and minor pumping stations in the metropolis.
Dimayuga was accompanied in his inspection by MMDA acting general manager Baltazar Melgar, who is the concurrent head of the agency’s Flood Control and Sewerage Management Office, and other officials of the agency.
Dimayuga said aside from making sure that the pumping stations are fully operational, the MMDA has further intensified operations to clear waterways to prevent garbage from flowing all the way to the agency’s pumping stations.
Early this month, the agency said unfinished pumping stations near the controversial Manila Bay dolomite beach is to blamed for the flooding in portions of Taft Avenue during heavy downpour caused by southwest monsoon.
The pumping stations are the Remedios drainage, Estero de San Antonio, and Padre Faura drainage. — With Jocelyn Montemayor, Jed Macapagal, and Ashzel Hachero
