MANILA, Philippines – Residents of affected areas started picking up the pieces yesterday as typhoon “Pedring” (international name Nesat) moved away from the Philippines, leaving at least 21 people dead and 33 others missing in different parts of the country.
At the height of Pedring’s fury, powerful storm surges in Manila Bay crashed over seawalls, flooding a hospital, the US embassy and a five-star hotel.
As this developed, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said a tropical cyclone spotted off the Pacific Ocean, to be named “Quiel” (international name Nalgae), is expected to enter Philippine waters within the next 24 hours and is likely to cross Northern Luzon, the same area hit by Pedring.
Electricity had been restored in most of the affected areas yesterday, but the streets near Manila Bay were strewn with fallen trees and trash washed ashore.
As of 9 a.m. yesterday, only around three percent or roughly 190,000 customers of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) in Metro Manila and nearby provinces were still without power.
It was estimated that 85 percent of Meralco’s customers were affected by power outages at the height of the typhoon after flying debris, tarpaulins, billboards, floods, felled trees and strong winds damaged power lines.
Metro Manila residents started cleaning up while financial markets, government offices and some schools reopened. The Metro Rail Transit resumed its operation.
As of 11 a.m. yesterday, storm warning signal no. 1 remained hoisted over Zambales, La Union and Pangasinan.
“There is a big chance that (Quiel) will intensify into a typhoon and again it will enhance the southwest monsoon,” PAGASA supervising undersecretary Graciano Yumul said in a text message to The STAR.
The other weather disturbance, to be named “Ramon,” was not monitored by PAGASA yesterday.
Yumul said Quiel could be as strong as Pedring and is forecast to make landfall over Cagayan on Saturday.
He said Quiel is likely to intensify into a typhoon before hitting land as it gathered the cloud circulation of another weather system and Quiel could affect Northern and Western Luzon, including Metro Manila, starting Friday evening. These areas were hit by Pedring last Tuesday.
Yumul said that storm surges, which happened along Roxas Boulevard in Manila and other parts of Luzon, could happen again during the occurrence of Quiel.
As of 5 p.m. yesterday, Quiel was spotted at 1,330 kilometers east of Northern Luzon.
Pedring was last spotted at 520 kms west northwest of Baguio City with maximum sustained winds of 130 kilometers per hour (kph) near the center and gustiness of up to 160 kph.
It was forecast to move west northwest at 19 kph.
PAGASA lifted all public storm warning signals in areas affected by the typhoon yesterday afternoon but Pedring will continue to enhance the southwest monsoon and bring scattered to widespread rains over the rest of Western Luzon.
Malacañang said it would focus on assisting the victims instead of pointing fingers, even as it expressed satisfaction with the way the agencies have been working to mitigate the impact of the typhoon.
National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC) head Benito Ramos said six of the fatalities came from the cities of Valenzuela and Caloocan in Metro Manila; one from Bacnotan, La Union, one from Pamplona, Cagayan; one from Sula, Pangasinan; one from Isabela; two from Hingyong, Ifugao; two from San Jose Del Monte; two from Sta. Maria, in Bulacan; two in Botolan, Zambales and one from Candaba, Pampanga in Central Luzon; one from Barangay Banaba, San Mateo, Rizal; one in Camarines Sur, one from Catanduanes, in Bicol region.
Most of the 33 reported missing were fishermen from Quezon province, Aurora Province, Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte, and Masbate, who set out to sea despite the prevailing bad weather system.
Those injured were either hit by flying objects, figured in vehicular accident, or were pinned down by uprooted trees along Pedring’s path.
Water world
As of 2 p.m. yesterday, Ramos said that Pedring has displaced 35,273 families or a total of 171,570 individuals from the eight regions ravaged by strong winds and heavy rainfall.
Thousands of Marikina residents returned to their homes after the water level of Marikina River deflated to 16.1 meters in the afternoon, thankful that there was no repeat of the tropical storm “Ondoy” tragedy in 2009.
Navotas and Malabon, a perennial flood-prone city, were placed under a state of calamity and were still under floodwaters as evacuees remained at evacuations centers.
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairman Francis Tolentino and Department of Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson were due to inspect the polder (earthen) dikes that were breached by storm surges and the high tide in Barangays Panghulo and Dampalit in Malabon.
In Bulacan, Obando, submerged by water because of the damage to dams, and Meycauayan, whose 17 barangays are experiencing flooding, were also placed under a state of calamity.
The breach in Bulo dam also flooded Daang Maharlika in San Miguel, which links up with Gapan in Nueva Ecija, and inundated 12 barangays, causing local officials to evacuate 610 families.
Traffic ground to a halt in Caranglan, Nueva Ecija at noon following a landslide that closed the main road gateway of Cagayan Valley in Dalton Pass.
Provincial administrator Jim Valerio said the flooding in San Miguel town caused thousands of motorist to be stranded along the highway.
Massive flooding was also reported in at least 382 barangays in Isabela’s 20 municipalities and two cities as Magat dam overshot its 193-meter critical level.
Eighty-eight of the 89 barangays in Cabanatuan City remain under floodwaters, affecting thousands of residents.
A total of 61 road sections in Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, National Capital Region, and Cordillera remain impassable due to flooding, landslide, mudflows and fallen debris.
Government agencies highly visible
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has provided a total of P1.5-million worth of relief goods to families affected by Pedring, while the Philippine Red Cross, the Philippine Coast Guard and the Philippine National Police (PNP) dispatched personnel and medical teams to various areas to assist the victims.
Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman said her agency is continuously coordinating with the affected local government units (LGUs) on the extent of the damage of the typhoon for the release of additional relief assistance.
Soliman assured the LGUs that her agency has enough standby funds and relief goods, which can be immediately released when necessary.
The Department of Health, on the other hand, warned that leptopirosis cases will likely increase because of the flooding.
PNP chief Director General Nicanor Bartolome said he was satisfied with the way the police responded to the calamity and vowed to aim for zero casualties in the future.
Big losses in crops, infrastructure
Initial damage to agriculture and infrastructure has been placed at P729 million, according to figures reported by Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala.
Damage to palay/rice crops is placed at P654 million, affecting 39,175 metric tons; for corn, damage is estimated at only P69 million affecting 6,322 MT; for high value crops, the amount is placed at P1.6 million affecting 110 MT and for the fisheries sector, damage is estimated at P4 million.
Alcala pointed out that the initial affected production of 39,175 MT of palay is only 0.6 percent of the fourth quarter palay production of 6.5 million.
In an early morning radio interview, Alcala said that about 75 percent of standing palay crops may have been affected by Pedring and estimated that only 25 percent of the standing palay crop was harvested before the typhoon hit.
Preliminary figures from agriculture officials in Isabela report that hard hit were palay crops, with some 51,391 hectares with an estimated 29,251 metric tons of palay worth P487 million.
Corn crops with an estimated production of 192.1 MT with a value of P2.1 million were affected.
Local officials of Bulacan, however, noted that damage in agriculture was four times worse than what they incurred in 2009.
Alcala advised affected farmers to ensure that their drainage facilities are cleared to allow quick drainage of affected palay fields.
Earlier, Alcala had expressed optimism over a 22 percent increase in palay production for the third quarter of this year.
He had been hoping that Pedring would not cause that much damage to standing palay crops that are about ready for harvesting.
With the damage, that figure may no longer be achieved.
Possible recovery of the standing crop may also be compromised when Quiel enters the country by the weekend.
Blackout
Residents of Nueva Vizcaya and some parts of Cagayan Valley, Isabela and Quirino and the Cordillera Autonomous Region serviced by 14 electric cooperatives are still without electricity.
Large parts of Bulacan and Aurora are also experiencing massive brlackouts affecting thousands of residents.
Aurora Electric Cooperative (Aurelco) director Ric Bautista said power may be restored in three days at the soonest since electric pole and lines were toppled than by falling trees in several parts of the province.
National Electrification Administration administrator Edita Bueno said more than 900,000 out of 1.2 million consumers were still cut off from the grid, but repairs are ongoing and electric cooperatives would have to wait for the grid’s complete restoration before they could bring back electricity.
For its part, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) said they still have to determine the timetable for the completion of the repairs of damaged transmission lines.
The Department of Energy, meantime, exercised its emergency powers to temporarily allow the use of excess capacities at the country’s water reservoirs for power generation instead of putting it to waste.
“I called the ERC (Energy Regulatory Commission) if they will declare a market intervention, which they prefer not to. So I asked if they would not mind me declaring the state of emergency to address the water level, the ERC gave the green light,” said Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras.
Militants wants budget released
Meanwhile, the militant fisherfolk group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) asked the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to release the P12-billion unspent Ondoy funds for relief and rehabilitation efforts for victims of typhoon Pedring.
Pamalakaya national chairman Fernando Hicap said Budget Secretary Florencio Abad has no reason to “hostage” the P12-billion unused Ondoy funds, saying the 100,000 people displaced by typhoon Pedring all over Luzon badly need urgent relief assistance and economic rehabilitation.
“Secretary Abad should let the unspent P12-billion Ondoy funds go to urgent and strategic plans for economic relief and rehabilitation. The DBM should not hostage these funds intended for such purpose,” Hicap said in a statement.
He noted that of the P12-billion Ondoy funds approved by Congress in 2009 for rehabilitation, the DBM only released P339 million or merely 3 percent of the total budget allocation in 2010.
“To be specific, a total of P11.6 billion is still intact and the DBM has no option but to release the funds so it could immediately address the wholesale need for economic relief of affected victims of typhoon Pedring,” Hicap said.
The group likewise dared President Aquino to release his remaining pork barrel funds this year to fund the economic rehabilitation of farmers and fisherfolk livelihood battered by the typhoon.
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By: Helen Flores With Jaime Laude, Alexis Romero, Christina Mendez, Marianne Go, Non Alquitran, Rhodina Villanueva, Paolo Romero, Sheila Crisostomo, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Pete Laude, Jerry Botial, Donnabelle Gatdula, Ding Cervantes, Raymund Catindig, Charlie Lagasca, Jun Elias, Eva Visperas, Cesar Ramirez, Artemio Dumlao, Ben Serrano, Ric Sapnu, Celso Amo, Cet Dematera, Teddy Molina, Dino Balabo, Manny Galvez, AP
Source: The Philippine Star, Sept. 29, 2011
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