‘Glenda’ kills pregnant woman, kin in Lucena
LUCENA CITY, Quezon — Typhoon “Glenda’s” (international name: Rammasun) howling winds and heavy rains swept through Quezon province from midnight Tuesday to Wednesday morning, leaving at least three persons dead and destroying or damaging numerous homes, government and private buildings in three badly hit towns in the province.
Henry Buzar, provincial disaster risk reduction and management council (PDRRMC) officer, described “Glenda” as “too strong and stayed long enough” to inflict serious damage.
“’Glenda’ was much stronger than Reming that also hit Quezon several years ago,” he said.
Buzar said the authorities still had to obtain a complete picture of the damage across the province as communication lines were still down in places and staff dispatched to the Lamon area and the Bondoc Peninsula (3rd and 4th districts) still had to file their reports.
Supt. Allen Rae Co, Lucena police chief, said three family members were killed at the height of the typhoon’s fury before dawn Wednesday when a concrete wall of an abandoned house adjacent to theirs in Lucena’s Barangay Market View collapsed and fell on them.
Katleen Pabilane, nurse at the Quezon Medical Center emergency room, said the victims were all declared dead on arrival at the hospital. She identified the victims as Nenita Artipicio, her pregnant daughter Arlene and eight-year-old son Adrian.
A radio report said the wall collapsed on their house around 2 a.m. on Wednesday at the height of ‘Glenda’s’ downpour.
Co, in the report, said the victims’ house was built with galvanized iron roof and plywood, but it still failed to protect them.
Citing initial reports from local disaster management councils, Buzar said the towns of Unisan, General Luna and Guinayangan suffered the most serious damage.
“We received reports that municipal buildings, barangay (village) halls, government and private offices and number of residential houses were destroyed,” Buzar told the Inquirer.
He said rescue groups from the PDRRMC were immediately dispatched to help the victims in badly affected towns.
On Tuesday afternoon, Governor David Suarez converted his office conference room into a command center to monitor the typhoon’s movement as it passed through the province.
The command center was manned by Suarez, PDRRMC personnel, provincial officials, police, military and leaders of different rescue groups.
As of Wednesday morning, Buzar said his office had yet to receive complete reports as erratic communication signals were hampering the dispatch of damage reports.
So far, the PDRRMC report said a total of 5,182 families (22,000 persons) had been evacuated to 205 emergency shelters, mostly public school buildings, in different parts of the province.
The council also reported that a three-meter high storm surge hit the coastal villages in the towns of Pitogo, Gumaca and Guinayangan.
Tornadoes also swept through the towns of Gumaca, Atimonan and Calauag where at least four houses were initially reported to have been destroyed.
Suarez praised the efforts of different local disaster management councils, police, soldiers and rescue groups who carried out preemptive and forced evacuation of residents in known risk areas.
“If not for their early and strategic response, the province could have suffered serious number of casualties,” Buzar said, citing initial reports from different towns who all registered zero casualties.
“We’re all praying that the statistics will continue to remain that way,” he said.
Buzar said a stretch of the Maharlika Highway in Lopez and Calauag towns going to Bicol was rendered impassable at the height of typhoon because of toppled trees and electric posts.
According to PDRRMC, the province’s 40 towns and two cities would be without electricity for several days due to toppled electric posts.
In the coastal village of Dalahican, a tug boat slammed into the breakwater after strong waves battered the sea vessel.
Two classrooms at Dalahican Elementary School were packed with evacuees. One of the evacuees said they arrived at the school at midnight.
The evacuees complained that they had not received food rations from the local social welfare office.
In the central part of the province, workers from the Department of Public Works and Highways office in Lucena were dispatched early morning Wednesday to remove fallen trees along the Maharlika Highway from Tiaong town to this city.
Webster Letargo, Suarez’s chief of staff, said the governor left the command center early Wednesday to survey the extent of the damage.
Letargo said Suarez would soon declare a state of calamity in the province.
“We already have several groups of volunteers packing emergency relief packs for the victims,” Letargo said. With a report from Marc Jayson Cayabyab, INQUIRER.net
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