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NEARLY a
hundred people were confirmed dead, and crop damage in
flooded farms was seen to reach P200 million as an
erratic Typhoon Frank slashed through the Visayas
region, a big chunk of Luzon island, and sparked rains
in Mindanao at the weekend. The death toll is feared to
rise as more than 700 remained missing from a passenger
boat that sank off Romblon island.
Officials are also busily restoring power both for
industry and residential areas, as Frank’s strong winds
damaged and strewed debris in the facilities of the
National Power Corp., National Transmission Corp.
(Transco) and the largest distribution utility, Manila
Electric Company.
Napocor
advised residents near spillways and waterways of its
dams “to evacuate to higher levels in the event that we
may have to spill water to prevent damage to these
facilities.”
People ride improvised
bancas on Dela Rosa St. in Makati City.
At
present, according to Napocor, Angat Dam’s water
elevation is at 196.10 meters. Its spilling level is 215
meters, but with heavy rains, water in the dam is
beginning to swell.
San
Roque Dam in Pangasinan, now at 245 meters, is still far
from its spilling level of 280 meters.
“We will
be providing regular updates as necessary to inform our
public on the status of our power plants and dams,”
Napocor said.
Disaster
officials initially placed the number of deaths at 82
and more than 20 injured, 18 of them from Surigao del
Norte.
But Red
Cross, search-and-rescue and local officials see the
number of casualties rising amid a desperate race
against time to pluck to safety the more than 700 on
board the Sulpicio Lines’ M/V Princess of the Star that
sank Saturday afternoon.
Petty
Officer 3 George de Jesus of the Philippine Coast Guard
said the boat was traveling toward Cebu when its
skipper, Capt. Florencio Marimon, radioed for help at
around 12:21 p.m. on Saturday off Sibuyan Island.
The
vessel left South Harbor in Manila at 8 p.m. on Friday
with its 121 crew and 626 passengers, despite a weather
bureau notice of a Signal 2 storm on Frank
(international code name: Fengshen), because Coast Guard
guidelines allow a ship of this size to travel in that
kind of weather.
This
image provided by NOAA shows Frank’s route on Thursday,
southeast of the Philippines.
Romblon
Rep. Leandro Madrona said local officials fished out
four dead bodies along the shorelines of San Fernando
town in Romblon.
San
Fernando Mayor Nanette Tancinco reported rescuing three
survivors in Barangays Mabini and Espana. She identified
one survivor as Jessie Boot of Siquijor province.
Tancinco,
whose town was also underwater and proceeded to the
affected barangays on foot, said they have already
cleared the Sibuyan District Hospital for both
casualties and survivors. She appealed for food and body
bags.
Coast
Guard chief Vice Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo said they were
still investigating the cause of the sinking of the M/V
Princess of the Star, which he said was seen in an
“upturned” or inverted position.
Officials were also looking into reports that the boat
had a hole on its hull.
Tamayo,
who was in Camp Aguinaldo and joined Cabinet officials
headed by Vice President Noli de Castro and Executive
Secretary Eduardo Ermita in a teleconference with
President Arroyo, said Coast Guard search and rescue
ships including the BRP Batangas were already on their
way to Sibuyan Island.
National
Disaster Coordinating Council spokesman and Palace
Deputy Spokesman Anthony Golez said they were still
awaiting reports from disaster offices around the
country, and sees the number of casualties rising.
Ten of
the casualties were from Maguindanao. Golez said that
all of the victims either drowned or were hit by falling
trees and flying objects.
But Red
Cross chairman Sen. Richard Gordon, who was in the same
teleconference, said the PNRC total is already 93
deaths, with four missing.
Many of
the casualties reported to the Red Cross came from
Iloilo alone, which was also inundated by flood waters.
In his
report to the NDCC, Iloilo Governor Niel Tupaz said as
of 10 a.m. on Sunday, they counted 59 casualties—and
counting, as many more were missing.
“The
entire province of 42 municipalities and one city was
like an ocean yesterday (Saturday),” Tupaz said. The
province was without electricity all of Sunday.
Golez
said they received reports that most of Capiz was also
under water as early as Saturday.
The
Philippine Air Force put on standby two C-130 planes and
11 helicopters in the search and rescue effort and in
the delivery of relief goods.
The air
assets would fly as soon the weather permits them.
Gordon
sought US Embassy help for the use of its air assets in
the government’s search and rescue and in the delivery
of relief assistance.
Gordon
also ordered the Red Cross to send body bags to Sulpicio
Lines, and to set up welfare desks in Manila, San
Fernando, Iloilo and Cebu to assist the families of the
passengers and those affected by the typhoon.
On
Sunday afternoon, Frank was pouring more rains in Metro
Manila and in Central Luzon as it traveled northward.
Weather
officials said Metro Manila, the whole of Calabarzon,
Central Luzon and the province of Quezon are under storm
signal number 3, while the provinces of Mindoro,
Marinduque, Polilio Island, Mountain Province and Ilocos
Sur are under signal number 2. The rest of northern
Luzon including Abra, Ilocos Norte and the rest of
Ilocos Sur are under signal number 1.
Typhoon
Frank struck hard as some of the affected provinces
seemed to have been caught unaware as it changed its
path.
Pagasa
chief Dr. Nilo Frisco said they first tracked the
typhoon as bound to hit Samar region and move toward
Bicol, supposedly last Friday. But the typhoon took a
different path on Saturday and was forecast to strike
Samar still, but instead it whirled through Masbate,
Romblon and Mindoro.
Early on
Sunday, it pummeled Cavite, Batangas and Quezon and
passed east of Metro Manila on its way to Central Luzon.
Nilo
said that as of 10 a.m. Sunday, the eye of the typhoon
was already in Pampanga. By 12 p.m., weather forecaster
Nathaniel Cruz said Frank was already moving toward
Pangasinan for its exit at the South China Sea.
Huge
damage to farms
The
Department of Agriculture (DA) estimates that some 1,500
hectares of rice lands in Eastern and Western Visayas
were affected by floods caused by Frank.
Jesus
Emmanuel Paras, agriculture undersecretary for
operations, said that if there will be no chance for
recovery in those areas, the damage to rice lands could
reach P200 million.
“We have
not yet surveyed the affected areas as we’re still
waiting for the floods to subside. I’m confident that
the damage to the rice sector will not be that extensive
because we’re still in the planting stage,” said Paras
in a telephone interview.
The
Agriculture official, however, could not yet give an
initial estimate of damage incurred by other farm
sectors. He said initial damage data could be available
by Monday.
Public
storm warning Signal no. 3 was raised in areas
considered critical for fisheries and livestock and
poultry production.
Areas
which experienced severe weather conditions include
Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Lubang Island,
Marinduque, Romblon, Batangas, Laguna, Cavite, Rizal,
Bataan, Quezon province’s Bondoc Peninsula and Metro
Manila.
Frank
also ravaged areas in Central Luzon like Nueva Ecija,
considered the top-rice producing province in the
country. Corn-producing areas in Northern Luzon were
also hit.
Last
month, tropical storm Cosme which directly affected
Northern Luzon provinces caused nearly P2 billion in
damages.
The
fisheries sector in La Union and Pangasinan was the
second biggest casualty of Cosme, with losses estimated
at P416.87 million.
State of
calamity in Zambo
The
local government on Saturday declared a state of
calamity in the district of Vitali and other areas in
Zamboanga City hit by flashfloods spawned by Frank.
The City
Disaster Coordinating Council (CDCC) chaired by Mayor
Celso Lobregat mobilized all local government resources
to assist the more than 1,000 families displaced by the
floods since Friday.
The
declaration of a state of calamity was recommended in an
emergency meeting of the CDCC on Saturday.
City
Social Welfare and Development Officer Francisco Barredo
said eight other barangays were affected besides the
villages in the Vitali district. (With J.A. Ng, B.
Garcia Jr.) |
