BAGUIO: FLOODS, MUDLISDES KILL 130
[PHOTO
AT LEFT - Rescuers carry a victim of a landslide that buried houses along
Kitma Road in Baguio City yesterday. ANDY ZAPATA JR.
| BAGUIO CITY, Philippines]
BAGUIO CITY, OCTOBER 10, 2009 (STAR) By Artemio Dumlao - Nature unleashed its fury on the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) as typhoon “Pepeng” turned back and made landfall a second time, bringing more rains and strong winds to several northern provinces.
The National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) pegged the initial casualty report yesterday at 130 but other sources from the regional disaster coordinating council placed the fatalities at 197, with 54 from Baguio alone and others from the towns of Itogon, Mankayan, Buguias, Tublay, Atok, La Trinidad and Kibungan.
Forty more people perished in Puguis, La Trinidad, Benguet due to landslides.
The figure, however, keeps rising by the minute as landslide reports are collated.
Baguio City Disaster Coordinating Council action officer and city administrator Peter Fianza said 17 have been accounted for as early as Friday morning.
In Mountain Province, a landslide buried 18 houses in Upper Kayan, Tadian town where five persons were reported dead and 32 missing.
No reports have reached the city as of press time as far as the other Cordillera provinces of Kalinga, Apayao, Ifugao and Abra were concerned.
An estimated P500-million worth of infrastructure has also been lost as torrential rains that lasted for more than 24 hours caused severe flooding and massive landslides in Baguio, Benguet and Mountain Province.
The streets, though flooded and made unsafe by landslides, were filled with people fleeing their homes for safer ground.
The exodus was made even more difficult and treacherous by the absence of electricity even as the Benguet Electric Cooperative (Beneco) worked overtime to restore power.
Residents have fled the City Camp Lagoon, as the rehabilitated natural drainage could no longer contain the massive volume of water due to relatively weaker but continuous rains that have caused tremendous damage.
Senior Superintendent Ramil Saculles, operations head of the Police Regional Office-Cordillera, said that rescue efforts are being conducted in the affected villages in the region.
Fianza is asking private groups to lend heavy equipment, flashlights, rubber boats and other rescue equipment to help in the rescue efforts and asked residents of Purok 7 and 8 in Pinsao to leave their homes for fear that more landslides will occur in the area.
Benguet Gov. Nestor Fongwan had also asked the NDCC for assistance.
Pepeng’s wrath
The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said Baguio’s rainfall from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. was 50.2 ml, over 300 percent higher than the normal rainfall registered here during the normal rainy season. But rains continued until the following day.
Experts predicted that the saturated soil, coupled with the presence of fractures and rock formations, is dangerous because it is already prone to landslides, and thus concerned disaster councils must already facilitate the immediate relocation of residents in identified geo-hazard areas to spare them from eminent danger.
Department of Public Works and Highways-Cordillera Administrative Region (DPWH-CAR) director Roy Manao said different road grids in the region suffered over P200-million worth of damage because of numerous landslides and washed out portions.
Apayao, Kalinga and Benguet accounted for over P150-million worth of damage to infrastructure since Signal No. 3 was hoisted over these provinces for days, which resulted in the isolation of several areas because of closed roads and damaged bridges.
The Halsema Highway, Bontoc-Tabuk-Tuguegarao road, Cagayan-Apayao-Ilocos Norte road, Abra-Kalinga road, Benguet-Nueva Vizcaya Roa, Abatan-Mankayan road and most provincial roads were alternately closed and opened to vehicular traffic because of the continuous heavy downpour.
The DPWH-CAR has ordered the deployment of more units of heavy equipment along different national roads in the region to immediately clear the obstructions and make way for traffic.
In terms of damage to agriculture, the Cordillera Regional Disaster Coordinating Council (CRDCC) reported over P11-million damage to rice, corn and vegetables, with Apayao, Kalinga and Benguet accounting for over 80 percent of the initial damage report.
But Chief Superintendent Orlando Pestaño, Cordillera police director, said the damage incurred by the agriculture and infrastructure sectors in the region could even double in the coming days once final reports from Apayao, Kalinga, Benguet and Abra are submitted.
Blackout
The mounting problems in the region were aggravated by the absence of electric power after electric poles and lines were knocked down either by strong winds or landslides.
Beneco lineman supervisor Zacarias Torres reported Thursday morning that four posts holding primary distribution lines at Kilometer 17 in the town of Atok were toppled by strong rains, causing power to trip in La Trinidad and adjoining areas.
Torres said five linemen were trapped by landslides as they were inspecting system troubles in sitio Anteg-in Beckel, Halsema in Itogon town and also in Kibungan and Kabayan towns.
Beneco is now helping in clearing operations and is trying to seek alternative routes to get back into service.
Ambiong and Beckel in La Trinidad, and the City Market, among others, experienced power outages after the transformer of RPN 9 in barangay Lamut fell after the pole was washed out.
Feeder 2, which supplies power to a large area from Marcos Highway, Outlook Drive, Camp Seven up to Loakan Area, among others, tripped at 10 a.m.
Crews were surveying the lines to assure that that these were not grounded and no one would be injured when power is restored.
Widespread
In Central Luzon, heavy rains have caused damage and flooding, rendering bridges and major thoroughfares impassable.
At least 12 major road sections and two bridges in the provinces of Bulacan, Aurora, Zambales, Nueva Ecija and Tarlac are not passable to all types of vehicles due to floodwaters and landslides, according to the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council (PDCC).
Authorities have placed the number of affected families in Nueva Ecija at 12,700 after the rains caused flooding in all five cities and 20 of its 27 municipalities involving a total of 172 barangays, which account for 20 percent of the province’s total number of barangays.
Disasters officials are still assessing the damage to infrastructure, property and agriculture.
In Quezon, the dike between the town and nearby Aliaga overflowed while the 7up Bridge in San Andres 2 was washed out.
Cabanatuan accounts for the biggest number of households affected with 3,654 from 24 of its 89 barangays; 2,200 in Cuyapo; 1,550 in Rizal, 1,310 in Quezon and 1,200 in San Jose City involving 14 of its 38 barangays.
Mansion House opened for victims
President Arroyo ordered the opening of the Mansion House, the presidential summer residence in Baguio City, as a relief center for those affected by the weather disturbance.
The Malacañang in the North in Paoay in Ilocos Norte will be opened for the same purpose, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said.
The President also ordered cadets from the Philippine Military Academy to be deployed in calamity-hit areas to help in the rescue and relief operations.
She also reiterated her sympathies for those affected by the typhoon.
Malacañang also gave assurance that all dams in northern and central Luzon are under close watch to prevent overflows as more rains are dumped by typhoon Pepeng.
Remonde said that the Pantabangan Dam in Nueva Ecija, Angat Dam in Bulacan, the Ambuklao Dam and Binga Dam in Benguet, and San Roque Dam in Pangasinan are under close monitoring.
“If water is to be released, the spillway will be lowered just enough to ease the pressure on the dam. The interest of the communities downstream will be taken into consideration,” Remonde said.
“Any decision on the matter, we are assured by the concerned agency, will be announced well in advance to the elected officials so that they can prepare their constituents and, if necessary, get them out of harm’s way,” he said. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe, Jaime Laude, Ric Sapnu, Ding Cervantes, Manny Galvez, Paolo Romero, AP