’Habagat’ leaves at least P139M damage to Calabarzon infra, agri

SAN PEDRO CITY – Disaster responders in the Calabarzon region estimated that the monsoon rains (habagat) damaged at least P139 million worth of infrastructure and agricultural products.

The monsoon rains were triggered by Tropical Storms “Henry,” “Inday,” “Josie,” and “Karding” since July.

Alex Masiglat, the spokesperson of the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC) on Tuesday, said their assessment was still ongoing, to include the damage left by the most recent ‘habagat’ brought about by Karding early this month.

Government agencies in the region were set to meet on Friday (August 24) to plan out rehabilitation and recovery efforts, he said.

So far since July, the RDRRMC recorded about P115 million worth of damage left by Tropical Storms Henry, Inday, and Josie to infrastructure.

This amount represents roads and flood control systems damaged by inland flooding along the Manila-Batangas road and the Marikina-Infanta road.

Irrigation projects in Infanta and San Francisco, Quezon; Famy, Laguna; and in Lian, Batangas were also hit with damage worth about P12.7 million.

Days of continuous rains had forced thousands of residents, particularly in Cavite and Rizal to evacuate from their homes.

In Cavite, floods damaged 21.10 hectares of farmland, while Henry and Josie damaged about a hectare in Rizal between July 16 to July 22.

As of July 27, the RDRRMC recorded P24.5 million worth of damage to agriculture.

The inclement weather had affected 485 livestock and poultry farmers who incurred about P2.2 million worth of losses.