Strong waves hit a Filipino man as he retrieves rubber slippers along Manila bay, Philippines on Sunday, May 10, 2015. AP
TUGUEGARAO CITY, Philippines—A father and his son were killed in Aparri, Cagayan province, as Typhoon “Dodong” (international name: Noul) clipped the northernmost tip of the Philippines on Sunday, according to authorities who said on Monday that the evacuation of coastal villages averted a higher toll.
The deaths of Rogelio Paa, 70, and his son Neil, 45, were the only cases officials attributed to Dodong and their demise marred Cagayan’s goal of zero casualty from natural disasters this year.
Many of the thousands who fled the typhoon’s path started to return home as early as Sunday night, after Dodong, the fourth and strongest storm to hit the Philippines this year, lashed northeastern Cagayan with heavy rains and gusts of up to 220 kilometers per hour.
Dodong weakened slightly after hitting land in Santa Ana town, Cagayan, with peak winds of up to 185 kph and gusts of up to 220 kph at 4 p.m. Sunday.
It was moving at 20 kph when it came ashore then slowed to 17 kph after clipping Pananapan Point in Santa Ana.
The typhoon gained speed as it moved northeast on its way out of the Philippines on Monday.
Leaving PH
As of 4 p.m. on Monday, Dodong was spotted 220 kilometers north-northeast of Basco, Batanes province, moving northeast at 30 kph with winds of 140 kph and gustiness of 170 kph on its way to southern Japan, according to the state weather bureau.
Dodong was expected to leave the Philippine area of responsibility by Tuesday morning, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa).
Cagayan provincial officials described the damage caused by Dodong as “minimal,” but lamented the two deaths.
“It is unfortunate [that we have casualties] but we have to accept this, and let it serve as a lesson for our people in the future,” said Norma Talosig, Cagayan Valley director of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD).
Senior Insp. Mina Domingo, Aparri police chief, said Paa and his son, a schoolteacher, were checking a power line that was touching the roof of their house in Mabanguc village during a power interruption at 11:30 on Sunday.
“They didn’t know that the line was cut open, so that when the power came back it brought electrical charges to the roof and they were electrocuted,” Domingo said.
Earlier, disaster officials said the deaths of the Paas should not be counted as typhoon-related because the incident happened about five hours before Dodong hit land.
“[But we decided that the deaths] should be counted [as typhoon-related] because the province was already under [public storm] Signal No. 3 when [the incident] happened,” Talosig said.
No injuries reported
Dodong downed power lines, toppled trees and peeled off thatched roofs, but no injuries were reported during the six hours that the typhoon pummeled the towns of Aparri, Buguey, Gonzaga, Santa Teresita and Santa Ana in northeastern Cagayan.
Authorities said the evacuation of the coastal towns saved many lives.
“People listened to our warnings. They’ve learned their lesson from past storms,” Talosig said.
In November 2013, Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) devastated Eastern Visayas, churning up tsunami-like waves and leaving more than 7,350 people dead or missing.
In Santa Ana, which took a direct hit from Dodong, strong winds brought down power lines and ripped off thatched roofs, but there were no people in the houses.
“We went around town telling people that it was best to evacuate ahead [of the typhoon],” police officer Melvic de Castro said.
Fleeing Bulusan
The evacuations began on Friday, with more than 3,000 people leaving coastal fishing communities in Isabela and Cagayan, and hundreds more leaving their homes in villages near the slopes of Mt. Bulusan, a volcano in Sorsogon province that spewed ash earlier this month.
Authorities had feared heavy rains could trigger volcanic mud flows, but Dodong veered farther from the Bicol region and most of the eastern seaboard as it curved northeast on its way toward land.
The evacuees were allowed to return home as Pagasa lowered storm signals in the Bicol region on Sunday afternoon.
Pagasa lifted storm warning signals on Monday, except in Batanes, Babuyan and the Calayan group of islands, which were under Storm Signal No. 1.
The state weather bureau warned, however, that it remained dangerous to venture out to sea along the seaboard of Northern Luzon.
In Cagayan, the provincial disaster council reported P5 million in damage to agriculture in Santa Ana, mostly from lost ready-to-harvest paddy, corn and watermelon.
Albert Balajadia, the town’s disaster officer, said damage to infrastructure was minimal. He said only 20 houses in the coastal villages of Palawig and Casambalangan were damaged.
The provincial government deployed a team to assess damage in other towns.
Relief distribution
Local disaster councils also began distributing relief to residents, including more than 3,000 evacuees in northern Cagayan who had been allowed to return home.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) reported that as of 2 a.m. on Monday, 14 evacuation centers in Cagayan and Isabela remained open, with 607 families, or 2,159 people, still there.
Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman said the remaining evacuees were given food packs.
The DSWD said 1,025 families, or 3,744 people, from 36 villages in Cagayan Valley and Isabela were affected by the typhoon. They were taken into 27 evacuation centers in the two provinces and given relief.
Road clearing
The evacuation centers that remained open on Monday were in Aparri, Calayan, Gonzaga and Santa Ana in Cagayan and in Benito Soliven and Divilacan in Isabela.
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) began clearing Cagayan’s major roads of typhoon debris and toppled power and communication lines on Monday.
Power was restored in Santa Ana, Gonzaga and Buguey on Monday morning after the northern Luzon transmission line was restored to
operation, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) said.
Cynthia Alabanza, spokesperson for the NGCP, said only one transmission line was affected by the typhoon, the 69-kV Magapit-Santa Ana line, which tripped at 5:40 p.m. on Sunday.
Relief from dry spell
In Ilocos Norte, residents were grateful that Dodong spared the province and glad that the rains provided relief from a dry spell.
“We are thankful for the rains. The trees, grass and our crops were revived,” said Rogelio Ceredon, president of the municipal agriculture and fisheries council in Dingras town.
The Ilocos Norte provincial disaster council did not receive reports of
typhoon-related damage or casualties.
In Batanes, residents of Uyugan went ahead with the celebration of their town fiesta on Sunday even with Dodong moving toward the province.
Heavy rains dumped by the typhoon brought relief to Ivatans, who had been praying for rain as the province had been suffering from a dry spell since early this year.
Ivatans felt the effects of Dodong as heavy rains poured and strong winds battered the province starting at 2 a.m. Monday.
Gov. Vicente Gato told a television interview on Monday morning that the provincial government had yet to receive reports of damage or casualties.
New storm
Meanwhile, Pagasa reported that a new weather disturbance had been spotted more than 2,000 km east of Mindanao, which could enter the Philippine area of responsibility by next Sunday.
Weather forecaster Aldczar Aurelio said the weather disturbance, with the international name “Dolphin,” was still too far away to affect any part of the Philippines.–With reports from Julie M. Aurelio and Riza T. Olchondra in Manila; Leilanie Adriano, Villamor Visaya Jr. and Juliet Cataluña, Inquirer Northern Luzon; and AFP
Originally posted: 2:37 PM | Monday, May 11th, 2015
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