MANILA, Philippines – Disaster mitigation officials raised the number of people affected by this week’s torrential rains and floods to 2.5 million and estimated that up to P700 million worth of agricultural products and infrastructure were destroyed.
The death toll is now 21, a number of them children who drowned in the floods, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said.
An earlier reported fatality, Franco Pedrito Cawayan, 30, of Besao, Mountain Province, was taken off the NDRRMC official tally after the Health Department established that the accident that claimed his life was not due to bad weather in Apayao on August 19.
Four people remain missing, one each in Floridablanca, Pampanga; Tubo, Abra; and Bontoc and Sagada in Mountain Province.
Displaced from their homes were some 802,000 people (541,554 families) in 17 provinces. Of the people who lost their homes, 206,232 (46,276 families) are staying in 769 evacuation centers while another 595,689 people (132,836 families) reportedly chose to stay with their relatives or friends.
Residents clean their submerged belongings in Noveleta, Cavite on Wednesday following the onslaught of Typhoon Maring.INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
The NDRRMC said damage to crops such as corn and rice, livestock, and infrastructure reached P633 million.
Central Luzon was the worst hit with some P343 million worth of agricultural products and infrastructure lost.
The Ilocos region had P95.4 million worth of losses; the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) P78.7 million; Mimaropa, P75.4 million; and Calabarzon, P40.3 million.
The NDRRMC has also issued a second weather advisory warning people of the continuing threat of landslides and flashfloods brought by a new low pressure area spotted south of the Philippines.
As of 10 a.m., the NDRRMC said the low pressure area was some 480 kilometers east of Hinatuan town in Surigao del Sur. It could bring moderate to occasionally heavy rains and thunderstorms over the Visayas, parts of Northern Mindanao and the CARAGA region.
The Defense Department on Friday afternoon also issued a warning against unscrupulous people collecting donations for calamity victims using the name of Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and members of his staff.
The department’s advisory said that those who have been contacted by any individual or group using the name of Gazmin or any of his staff member for solicitations should report it to the Office of the Defense Secretary at telephone number 911-1746.
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