Quiel leaves P1.3-B infra and crop damage in Cagayan

TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan, Philipines — The widespread flooding and landslides triggered last week by Typhoon Quiel and the tail end of the cold front left P1 billion in infrastructure damage and P300 million worth of lost crops in Cagayan province, reports from the regional disaster risk reduction and management council (RDRRMC) in Cagayan Valley.

Floodwater submerged villages in 14 northern towns of Cagayan. At least five residents died from typhoon-related incidents, RDRRMC reports showed.

Restoration of power supply in at least 64 villages  is almost complete, said Blandina Madamba, general manager of Cagayan Electric Cooperative 2.

As of Wednesday, the power utility was working to restore power in four villages in the flooded towns of Abulug, Allacapan and Ballesteros.

In the Cordillera province of Apayao, 441 families (1,617 people) remained at evacuation centers on Wednesday as road clearing continued, said Enrique Gascon Jr., assistant regional director of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

In Bataan province, 25 houses and nine fishing boats in two coastal villages in Mariveles town were destroyed by huge waves triggered by Quiel last week, reports said.

Impact on Mindoro

In Occidental Mindoro, Quiel damaged at least P100 million worth of private and government properties in Palauan town.

The typhoon triggered what officials called a “sea swell” or waves as high as a two-story building that swept through at least 10 coastal villages over the weekend.

The waves also broke the town’s seawall, which Paluan Mayor Carl Michael Pangilinan said would cost them millions of pesos to restore.

Pangilinan, in a phone interview on Tuesday, said the town was placed under a state of calamity, after 600 residents lost their homes and fishing boats.—REPORTS FROM VILLAMOR VISAYA JR., GREG REFRACCION, MARICAR CINCO AND MADONNA VIROLA