‘Mina’ destroys croplands

KILLER WEATHER. Fog blankets garbage in Baguio city, northern Philippines, after heavy rains loosened the hillside dump site and created a landslide of garbage which cascaded down the slope and buried two houses, killing three children Saturday Aug. 27, 2011. The landslide was caused by heavy rains from the typhoon Namnadol (‘Mina’) which made landfall in the Philippines on Saturday and triggered landslides which have killed at least 9 people, officials said. (AP Photo/JJ Landingin)

Agriculture areas in Cagayan Valley suffered heavy damage from swirling winds and heavy rains brought by Typhoon “Mina,” which struck the tip of northern Luzon on Saturday, officials said on Sunday.

“Our people are ready. Sadly, it is our crops that aren’t,” Batanes Gov. Vicente Gato said, expressing concern over the damage that the typhoon had wreaked on his province.

Mina (international name: Nanmadol), the strongest typhoon to hit the country so far this year, set off landslides and floods, and knocked down walls that left at least nine people dead and six more missing, according to reports reaching the Inquirer.

A decision by many villagers to flee to safety before the typhoon struck and vigilance helped reduce the number of casualties, said Benito Ramos, head of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD).

Reports showed that about 1,420 hectares of palay and 596 ha of corn in Cagayan, estimated to be worth P10 million, were flattened by winds of 170 kilometers per hour when Mina made landfall in Gonzaga town.

Mayor Carlito Pentecostes Jr. of Gonzaga said at least half the town’s rice and corn production areas were destroyed. “This is severe considering most of our farmers are expected to harvest their crops starting on the first week of September,” he said.

At least 2,000 ha of palay and corn farms in Isabela were damaged by floods and strong winds, according to initial reports.

At least 9 dead

Mina further weakened on Sunday over the Philippine Sea but whipped Batanes before exiting toward Taiwan.

By Sunday morning, its maximum winds had been reduced to 120 kph near the center, and gustiness to 150 kph. At around 4 p.m., its eye was spotted 100 km northwest of Basco.

At 5 p.m. Sunday, Signal No. 3 was still up over Batanes; No. 2 over Ilocos Norte, Calayan and Babuyan Group of Islands; and No. 1 over the rest of northern Cagayan, Apayao, Abra and Ilocos Sur.

By Monday, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) is expected to lower storm signals in northern Luzon, except in Batanes.

Mina is expected to be out of the Philippine area of responsibility by Tuesday. “By the middle of the week, we will have a gradually improving weather,” said Robert Sawi, officer in charge of Pagasa’s weather division.

Breeze

Gato said the passage of Mina in Batanes was “a breeze,” even as the province braced for the worst as the typhoon moved toward Taiwan.

Taiwan issued sea and land warnings and planned to evacuate about 6,000 people in its eastern and southern regions as it braced for the typhoon.

The death toll from landslides, drowning and other typhoon-related incidents in northern Luzon reached seven on Sunday, reports from the OCD and local disaster response agencies showed.

The body of fisherman Nelson Vergara, 68, of Barangay Sirang in Baras, Catanduanes, was found floating off the province on Saturday after he went missing late last week.

In Abra and Kalinga, at least three people were reported missing after they were swept away by the strong currents in swollen creeks.

The fatalities were two children who were buried by a landslide in San Fabian, Pangasinan; an 84-year-old man who drowned in Sarrat, Ilocos Norte; three people who died when their houses were covered by garbage from a collapsed portion of a dump in Barangay Irisan in Baguio City; a man who died in a landslide in Barangay Sto. Tomas in Baguio; and a man who died when a mine tunnel collapsed in Barangay Kias, also in Baguio.

Damage estimates in typhoon-hit areas in the region came in trickles on Sunday, as local disaster response officials took their day off following days of preparations for Mina.

State of calamity

In Ilocos Norte, the provincial board declared a state of calamity due to widespread flooding and displacement. Flooding was reported in the towns of San Nicolas, Dingras, Sarrat, Piddig, Paoay and Batac, and Laoag City.

The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) placed the damage to roads, bridges and irrigation facilities at P36.75 million, and crop losses at P4.33 million.

A tornado was reported to have hit Barangay 35 Pipias in Bacarra town on Saturday night, destroying a house. Whirlwinds also swept a village in Paoay town, destroying 11 houses, and a village in nearby Batac City. Trees were uprooted.

Reports from the provincial capitol’s communication office said a landslide occurred in Pagudpud town on Saturday night, closing down a lane of the Cagayan Valley-Pagudpud Road.

In Cagayan, at least five bridges in Tuguegarao City and the towns of Peñablanca, Baggao and Tuao have been closed due to swollen rivers, said Senior Supt. Mao Aplasca, police provincial director.

At least 530 people from coastal villages in Gonzaga and Santa Ana towns were moved to evacuation centers on Saturday, reports from the PDRRMC said. However, many of the evacuees returned home as soon as the weather improved on Sunday.

Buried by garbage

In Baguio City, the typhoon dumped 225 millimeters of rain from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday, triggering landslides and floods in several parts of the mountain resort city.

OCD-Cordillera reports said Apolinario Flores, 10, and his brother, Revillar, 13, died when heavy rains toppled the city’s dump and buried three houses on Asin Road on Saturday. The body of Jefony Cael, 18, was dug up by rescue workers at noon yesterday.

The body of Floro Suliben, 32, was dug up on Saturday from a tunnel that caved in at Emerald Mountain in Barangay Kias. Also on Saturday, the neighborhood of Barangay Sto. Tomas dug out 60-year-old Alex Magno from a landslide.

The city government brought in dump trucks and bulldozers to Irisan, which hosts the dump, and to Asin Road below to dig for survivors and to clear out garbage that had blocked the road.

Rescuers are searching for the Floreses’ grandmother, Antonia. Social workers evacuated 23 families who live near or below the dump.

Some Irisan village residents blamed run-off water from Naguilian Road for the toppling of the dump. In another section of the road, run-off water built up around gutted sections of the highway, which were being prepared for a new layer of concrete.

The water flowed toward Barangay City Camp, the lowest section of Baguio, raising the water level to 5 meters.

Romulo Cabading, a resident of City Camp, said the water rose quickly at 1 p.m. on Saturday, forcing over 200 families to evacuate on rubber boats provided by the city government and civic groups.

Bus in ravine

In Benguet, the driver of a GL Trans bus let off his 18 passengers before he tried to cross Kilometer 19 of Halsema Highway in Tublay, Benguet, which was struck by a landslide on Saturday night.

Police said the bus fell into a ravine when another landslide struck the area.

Rescue workers spent hours in the dark searching for the driver, Reynaldo Fogtawey Carlos, 41, and his conductor, said Ronald Villa, OCD Cordillera operations chief. They found the two men unhurt.

Carlos told police that the passengers jumped out of the bus when rocks pushed it off the cliff. The bus was traveling to Baguio from Mt. Province.

Seven people were hurt by landslides that struck the towns of Tublay, Itogon and Mankayan in Benguet on Saturday, OCD reports said.

Kennon, other roads closed

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said Kennon Road remained closed to traffic on Sunday due to landslides.

Also closed due to landslides are the Claveria-Calanasan Road and Apayao-Ilocos Norte Road in Apayao; Abra-Kalinga Road in Abra; the Mt. Province-Cagayan via Tabuk-Enrile Road, Calabacan Bridge and the Bauko to the Cabunagan section of the Mt. Province-Ilocos Sur Road and the Baguio-Bontoc Road in Mt. Province; and Acop-Kapangan-Kibungan-Bakun Road, the Barangay Ambassador section of the Halsema Highway, the Gurel-Bokod-Kabayan Road and the Guesset section of the Benguet-Nueva Vizcaya Road in Benguet.

SN Aboitiz Power and National Power Corp. have opened five gates of the Ambuklao Dam after water level in the reservoir reached 749.6 masl. Ambuklao’s spilling level is 752 masl.

Authorities have also opened eight gates of Binga Dam, where water level reached 568.7 masl. Binga’s spilling level is 575 masl.

A sunny Sunday greeted residents of Isabela, but the Magat Dam continued to release excess water due to heavy rains in the reservoir’s watershed. Power has yet to be restored in many parts of the province.

Saturnino Tenedor, dam instrumentation section chief, said a floodgate was opened when the reservoir’s water level reached 191.76 meters above sea level (masl), just over a meter of its 193-masl spilling level.

The National Irrigation Administration opened a gate of the Ipo Dam in Bulacan on Saturday night as the water level surpassed the 100.20 masl spilling level.

Boat capsize

A boat owned by the Maconacon municipal government capsized in Santa Ana, Cagayan, Isabela Gov. Faustino Dy III said. No one was reported hurt or missing.

In Pangasinan, five houses were swept away by strong current at the Bued River in Barangay Binday in San Fabian town. The river current also eroded three hectares of farm lands in the village.

Juan Juguilon Jr., San Fabian agriculturist, said the river also damaged irrigation facilities in the villages of Binday, Aramal, Anonang, Kabaruan and Angio.

Except for the Labi Bridge in Bongabon, Nueva Ecija, all other bridges and roads in Central Luzon were passable.

The DPWH sent heavy equipment for clearing operations in the landslide-prone sections of Barangay Puncan and Putlan in Carranglan, Nueva Ecija. The highway passing through these villages is a major link of Central Luzon to Cagayan Valley.

While Mina’s strong winds battered Batanes, no typhoon-related casualty was reported as of 5 p.m., local officials said.

Fishermen in Ivana and Uyugan towns pulled their boats out of the coastline and brought them to the national road.

Sunday Mass at St. Joseph parish in Ivana town was canceled due to the typhoon. Reports from Melvin Gascon, Cristina Arzadon, Vincent Cabreza, EV Espiritu, Villamor Visaya Jr., Marla Viray and Juliet Cataluña, Inquirer Northern Luzon; Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon; Dona Pazzibugan in Manila; and AP