‘Julian’ leaves PH with P481 million losses

DAMAGED DIKE President Marcos (third from left) and his son, Ilocos Norte Rep. Sandro Marcos, inspect the Gabu Dike that was damaged by Supertyphoon “Julian.” —PPA POOL

Supertyphoon “Julian” (international name: Krathon) dissipated into a low-pressure on Friday as it left the country, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa).

But not before the powerful but erratic cyclone killed at least five people and caused up to P481.27 million in damage to the agriculture sector, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said.

Pagasa said Julian left the Philippine Area of Responsibility at 8 a.m. on Friday and was last tracked 480 kilometers north of Itbayat, Batanes.

The NDRRMC said at least one person remained missing while eight were injured as 242,973 individuals, or 69,290 families, mostly in Northern Luzon, were affected.

States of calamity

The provinces of Ilocos Norte and Batanes have already declared states of calamity while the NDRRMC continued to tally reports of damage.

NDRRMC said damage to infrastructure was so far estimated at P738.15 million while damage to agriculture was at P309.16 million, but the Department of Agriculture (DA) on Friday said it already climbed to P481.27 million.

President Marcos himself flew to Ilocos Norte and Batanes to inspect the damage and expressed concern at the emerging problems in the farm sector. (See related story below).

In its latest bulletin, the DA’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Operations Center reported that some 20,134 farmers in the regions of Ilocos, Cagayan Valley and Central Luzon were affected.

The weather disturbance wiped out 19,151 metric tons (MT) of produce, primarily rice and corn, in 13,488 hectares of land.

“As field assessments and validations continue, further damage and losses are expected in the affected regions, particularly on palay in Cagayan Valley,” the DA said.

Lost rice crops

Rice suffered the most from Julian, with losses amounting to P348.42 million or 72.39 percent of the overall damage. The majority of the 17,585 MT of rice produce was in the reproductive and maturity stages.

Corn accounted for P35.75 million or 7.43 percent of the total. The natural calamity damaged 1,514 MT of corn produce, mostly in the vegetative and maturity stages.

Other commodities and facilities were affected as well: irrigation facilities (P92.68 million), high-value crops (P3.96 million) and livestock and poultry (P472,550).

The series of typhoons and the El Niño phenomenon that hit the country in recent months destroyed 502,680 MT of rice.

Alone, the El Niño-inducted dry spell that ended in June ruined 330,717 MT of rice, according to the DA’s final bulletin on the weather phenomenon posted in August.

The DA had estimated that on average, the country was losing 500,000 MT to 600,000 MT in palay production annually because of typhoons and other natural calamities. INQ