Recovery from ‘Dodong’ quick in Cagayan

TUGUEGARAO CITY—Visitors are back to the white sand beaches of Santa Ana town and Palaui Island in Cagayan, a day after Typhoon “Dodong” (international name: Noul) battered the province’s northeastern tip.

The arrival of tourists there on Tuesday showed what local officials described as “minimal” damage brought by the typhoon.

It took only a day to clear debris, said Julian Jovy Gonzales, officer in charge of the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport (CSEZFP) in Santa Ana.

“Everything looks normal now, as if nothing happened, except for the pruned treetops,” he said.

The CSEZFP recorded the arrival of at least three groups of tourists on Tuesday.

Gonzales said Dodong left little damage on resorts, casinos and other tourism facilities within the freeport, the most severe of which was a cottage that tipped on its side at Nangaramoan beach in San Vicente village.

The town lost power on Sunday but services were restored on Monday afternoon, he said.

At the height of the typhoon, the three casino complexes and resorts there, which mostly cater to foreign tourists, remained in operation, Gonzales said.

Cendolfo Gagote, who operates a boat that ferries visitors to Palaui Island and nearby tourist spots, said visitors were back in Santa Ana as soon as weather improved and the skies cleared on Monday.

Some residents in the small community of Punta Verde on Palaui Island took time off from repairing their houses to attend to tourists, he said.

The arrival of 20 local tourists in Santa Ana matched the town’s average daily arrivals, said Joyce Jayme-Calimag, public relations chief of the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (Ceza), the agency that manages the free port.

“Many resort owners really did not take chances. They covered glass panes with plywood to protect windows and doors, and their employees stayed indoors,” Gagote said.

No casualty was recorded in Santa Ana as Dodong, a category 4 typhoon that packed 220 kilometer per hour winds, pummeled the town.

The province, however, recorded two deaths from the typhoon: a 70-year-old man and his 45-year-old son who were electrocuted while checking the roof of their house in Aparri town on Sunday.

Santa Ana lost P5 million worth of crops while damage to government buildings, roads and bridges reached P1 million, records from the provincial disaster risk reduction and management office (PDRRMO) showed.

Worst-hit were rice and corn farms and watermelon plantations in the villages of Marede, Parada-Batu and Patunungan, said Albert Balajadia, head of the town’s DRRMO.