‘Gener’ death toll rises to 39; 200,000 forced to evacuate

Typhoon “Gener” left the country early Friday, leaving at least 39 people dead and forcing almost 200,000 people from their homes in Metro Manila and surrounding provinces.

Office of Civil Defense Administrator Benito Ramos said two bodies were retrieved on Friday from Manila Bay. Eleven others were recovered late Thursday in various parts of the country. Several of the dead were children, including a 6-month-old baby.

Gener dumped torrents of rain as it swept past the Philippines earlier this week. It then weakened to a tropical storm and headed westward to China, where it made landfall around noon on Friday.

The southwest monsoon will continue to bring rains and winds over Luzon and Western Visayas, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said in an advisory on Friday.

‘Helen,’ too

Meanwhile, a new low pressure area (LPA) has been spotted 1,400 kilometers east of Northern Luzon. “It is still too far to affect any part of the country,” Pagasa said in its 5 p.m. bulletin.

Perez said the LPA might enter the country’s territory on Saturday night. But Servando said the LPA would only strike at the side of the Philippine area of responsibility. If it intensifies into a storm, it will be named “Helen.”

“The southwest monsoon will continue to bring scattered rain showers and thunderstorms over Luzon and Western Visayas, becoming widespread over Western Luzon, which may continue to trigger flash floods and landslides,” Pagasa said.

The weather bureau added that moderate to strong winds blowing from the southwest will prevail throughout the archipelago and its coastal waters will be moderate to rough.

In its extended weather outlook, Pagasa forecast that Metro Manila will continue to be cloudy or mostly cloudy over the weekend with scattered rain showers and thunderstorms. The same is true for the cities of Laoag, Baguio and Tagaytay.

In Metro Cebu, Metro Davao, Zamboanga City and Cagayan De Oro City, the weekend will see partly cloudy skies with isolated rains, the weather bureau predicted.

As this developed, Vice President Jejomar Binay has shipped relief goods to typhoon stricken provinces in Central and Southern Luzon, particularly in the Bataan towns of Abucay, Hermosa, Bagac, Morong and Orani, which experienced heavy rains and flooding this week.

Relief operations

Relief packs have also reached the town of Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro province, where “Gener” caused landslides and flooding.

Assistance was also sent to Montalban, Rizal province and Rosales and Bugallon towns in Pangasinan province.

“Our office is always ready to bring help to those in need,” Binay said in a statement. “We are working together with local government units in the provinces. We are just making arrangements on where and how we could send help.”

Relief operations will be carried out in Bulacan, Cavite and Nueva Ecjia. Bulacan and Nueva Ecija towns experienced flooding while parts of Cavite province were placed under a state of calamity.

Binay’s relief operations are funded by his 2012 Priority Development Assistance Fund. With reports from Tarra Quismundo and AP