RESCUERS use motorized boats to rescue children trapped in the middle of a flooded rice field in M’lang, North Cotabato. INQUIRER MINDANAO FILE PHOTO
DAVAO CITY, Philippines—People in flood- and landslide-stricken areas of Mindanao got a respite from nearly two weeks of foul weather on Wednesday when a low pressure area that had intensified into a depression and weakened back to a low pressure area finally dissipated, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said.
Since its advent on January 10, at least 45 people were reported killed, eight listed missing, and 68 others injured in floods and landslides that hit several areas in the Zamboanga peninsula, and the regions of northern and southern Mindanao and Caraga, a report released by the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council on Wednesday said.
The weather disturbance affected 895,572 persons across 15 provinces in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Regions 9, 11 and Caraga, the NDRRMC report said.
Floods and landslides brought on by torrential rains damaged 50 roads and 25 bridges, which remained impassable on Tuesday, in the affected areas, the NDRRMC added.
The NDRRMC said the total damage property, public infrastructure and crops was estimated at P369.1 million. Many of the areas hit, particularly in Southern Mindanao and Caraga, were still recovering from the devastation caused by Typhoon Pablo in December 2012.
As of Wednesday, more than 200,000 displaced persons continued to receive assistance in the more than 500 evacuation centers, it added.
A state of calamity remains in effect in many provinces, the NDRRMC added.
Pagasa said no new weather disturbances were in sight. But even then, it said that Mindanao and Eastern Visayas would be “partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms.”
The NDRRMC said the dissipation of the weather disturbance has prompted it to lower its alert level from red to blue.
Still, travel by sea between Surigao City and Dinagat Island remained suspended as of Wednesday, it added.
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