TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines--Already reeling from the effects of floods in their communities, residents of Eastern Samar now have to deal with water-borne diseases.

At least 178 persons from the flooded city and towns of Eastern Samar were reported to be suffering from diarrhea, according to reports collated by the Office of Civil Defense in Eastern Visayas (OCD 8).

The death toll due to flooding reached 18, the OCD 8 report released on Sunday said.

The city of Borongan and the towns of Maydolong and Dolores, the OCD-8 report said, had the highest number of fatalities with three each. The rest of the dead were from the towns of Jipapad, Gen. MacArthur, Taft, Can-avid, San Julian, all in Eastern Samar; Pinabacdao in Samar; Dulag and Palo, both in Leyte; and Culaba in Biliran.

The OCD-8 was expecting the death toll to climb as they continued to receive reports from affected towns, said OCD 8 operation chief Rey Gozon.

As flooding spawned by the relentless rain continued, diarrhea cases also rose, said Gozon.

He said that diarrhea cases were detected in practically all localities in Eastern Samar, with Borongan City having 38 people afflicted with diarrhea, the highest number of cases among all areas in the province.

The other towns in the province which had double-digit cases of diarrhea were Can-avid, 15; Llorente, 14; Guiuan, 14; Balangkayan, 13 and Taft, 10.

But Teogenes Baluma, regional health director, said the diarrhea cases were placed under control after the regional health office distributed Oresol (oral rehydration solution) to the victims in the affected towns.

Contamination of water sources caused the upsurge of the diarrhea cases in the province, the health regional chief said.

The health regional office has been activating its operations center at the regional office since last week to help local governments provide health services to their constituents.

Damage to infrastructure and agriculture throughout the region has reached P600 million, according to the OCD.

The flooding affected more than 16,000 hectares of rice farms. Eastern Samar, the hardest hit province, bore the brunt, with 9,700 hectares planted to rice and valued at P70.9 million, already destroyed, the report said.

Agriculture damage in Leyte affected 4,396 has. with an equivalent value of P28.98 million; Northern Samar, 1,594 has. (P17.32 million) and Samar, 236 has. (P865,377).

The OCD 8 report said that losses from damaged roads and bridges were placed at P559 million. The province of Samar sustained the heaviest damage at P282 million; Northern Samar, P118 million; Leyte, P101 million; Eastern Samar, P45 million; and Southern Leyte, P12.8 million.