FOURTEEN provinces in northern Luzon remain under threat from a weakened Tropical Storm “Lando” (international name: Koppu) as it left the Luzon landmass and steadily but slowly moved away from the country toward Taiwan.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) maintained Tuesday Storm Signal No. 2 over the provinces of Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Apayao, Abra, Batanes and northern Cagayan, including Calayan and Babuyan islands.
The weather bureau also maintained Signal No. 1 over La Union, Pangasinan, Kalinga, Mountain Province, Ifugao, Benguet, Nueva Vizcaya and Isabela provinces and the rest of Cagayan.
As of 4 p.m. Tuesday, the center of Lando was 90 kilometers west of Calayan.
Pagasa forecaster Chris Perez said all warning signals would likely be lifted by Thursday or Friday when the tropical storm was expected to be 50 km north of Batanes.
Perez, however, added that even if storm signals had been lifted, northern Luzon might still experience rains from the tail end of the storm.
Although its winds have weakened, the storm still carried moderate to heavy to at time intense rains within a wider 650-kilometer diameter.
Since it made landfall on Sunday, Lando inundated and caused landslides in many northern and central Luzon provinces. Baguio City received in 24 hours more rainfall than it usually gets for the entire month in October, according to Pagasa.
From typhoon strength with maximum winds of 175 kilometers per hour and gusts up to 210 kph, Lando progressively weakened since Monday after slamming into the Cordillera mountains then skirting the coastline of the Ilocos provinces west of Luzon.
It exited from the landmass early Tuesday, when it was reduced to a tropical storm with maximum winds of 85 kph (from 95 kph Monday night) and gusts up to 100 kph (from 120 kph).
Still, at least 12 flights, mostly bound for northern Luzon destinations, were canceled on Tuesday.
Lando unexpectedly grew fiercer on Monday night, unleashing winds and rain which triggered landslides that killed 11 people, including four children, in Baguio City and in neighboring La Trinidad in Benguet province.
Earlier, the typhoon killed five people in upland Cordillera, including Ryan Tiglay, a farmer, whose body was recovered on Monday after he was reported missing while checking his fish pen near Tineg River in Abra.
The slow-moving Lando also killed nine people in Central Luzon and Cagayan Valley, seven in Pangasinan and three in Isabela, raising the death count as collated by the Inquirer to 35 as of Tuesday.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) has so far validated 18 deaths. The council said 16 were injured and one was missing.
A total of 23,867 families, or 107,719 people, were still staying inside evacuation centers as of Tuesday.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development and local authorities have so far distributed P8,128,965 worth of assistance and relief goods to typhoon victims.
Given the relatively low casualty figures, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) said the Philippine government’s preparedness program “had paid off.”
“The communication of early warnings in the Philippines has improved significantly since Typhoon Haiyan (known locally as Supertyphoon “Yolanda”) claimed over 6,000 lives in November 2013,” said UNISDR chief Margareta Wahlström.
“President Benigno Aquino’s broadcast to the nation on Friday evening was especially important in alerting the population to the threat,” she added.
Damage to farms
The Department of Agriculture placed damage to farms at P5.9 billion, more than half of which was accounted for by Nueva Ecija. The amount did not include damage to fisheries and to farm equipment and infrastructure.
Because of floods and landslides, 88 roads and 25 bridges were rendered unpassable to all types of vehicles all over Luzon, according to the NDRRMC.
The storm also damaged 4,647 houses and destroyed 272 dwellings so far in northern and central Luzon.
Caught by surprise
Lando caught people in Baguio by surprise because the weather had a lull after strong rains on Sunday and Monday morning.
Resident Lyn Madalang spent Monday night at her office building when taxicabs stopped plying their routes and saw winds tear up a section of downtown Baguio. “I saw a tree break off because of the wind. I saw signboards being shredded. It was very strong,” she said.
In Burnham Park, work crews and volunteers had to clear 40 trees that toppled due to the strong winds.
Bad weather prevented NDRRMC officials from flying to Aurora last weekend.
Undersecretary Alexander Pama of the NDRRMC said the pilot of the C-130 plane, which was supposed to bring officials to the devastated province, decided not to push through with the flight.
“The takeoff was aborted because of reports of bad weather in Casiguran and Baler in Aurora. The wind was strong and unpredictable. The officials were decided on visiting there but the pilot made a judgment call,” Pama said on Tuesday.
Fatalities
Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Interior Secretary Mel Senen Sarmiento and other NDRRMC members were on the C-130 plane that was supposed to leave for Aurora at 10 a.m., but decided not to proceed.
Sarmiento said the mission was supposed to be an aerial inspection and relief mission to the province, which bore the brunt of Lando.
As of Tuesday, the death toll in Central Luzon climbed to 9. In Aurora, Leonardo Cinco, 11; Armando de Leon, 26; and Riza Lisma, 40, died from multiple wounds from objects toppled or blown by Lando’s winds.
Mario Abesamis, 58, and Pedro Tuares, 64, both of General Tinio in Nueva Ecija, drowned.
Violeta Magbalot, 57 and of Moncada, Tarlac, died after she touched a live electric wire.
In Zambales, Benita Famanilay, 62, died after she was pinned down by a concrete wall that collapsed beside her house in Barangay Asinan in Subic town.
Evangeline Mas, 58, a teacher from Barangay Gama in Sta. Cruz town, drowned.
Edward Pinasen, 25, was buried in a landslide that hit their house on Sunday night in a former mining site in Barangay Lucapon South, also in Sta. Cruz town. The body of Staypany Manila was found floating in Lauis River in nearby Candelaria town on Tuesday.
In Pangasinan, four people, including a 3-year-old girl and her year-old sister, drowned, raising to seven the number of fatalities in the province.
Police said the victims were crossing a flooded area on a banca in Barangay Garita in Bani town when the boat was swept away by a strong current and capsized at 4 p.m. Monday.
State of calamity
On Tuesday, the Pangasinan provincial board placed the province in a state of calamity.
Nestor Batalla, assistant provincial agriculturist, said initial damage to agriculture was P10.9 million. Damage to infrastructure in the province was initially estimated at P49.9 million.
The provincial social welfare and development office reported 2,301 families from 46 villages in the province’s 15 towns and cities had been evacuated due flash floods. The number did not include 588 families evacuated in Dagupan City.
At least five roads in the province remained flooded and closed to all types of vehicles, including a section of the Urdaneta-Dagupan highway in Barangay Pinmalupdpod in Urdaneta City.
FROLICKING IN THE FLOODS Kids will be kids, no matter the dangers posed by muddy floodwaters brought about by Tropical Storm “Lando” along Maharlika Highway in Cabanatuan City. Nueva Ecija towns and cities were among the worst-hit by rising floodwaters that poured down from surrounding mountains in the wake of the typhoon. GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE
Flooding was also expected to linger in low lying villages of Calasiao and Sta. Barbara towns due to the swollen Sinocalan River.
Water from dams
At 10 a.m. Tuesday, Ambuklao and Binga dams in the upstream of the Agno River in Benguet continued to spill water. Ambuklao had eight gates raised to a total height of five meters to spill water at 836 cubic meters per second (cms). Binga’s six gates had a total opening of 9 meters, releasing water at 1,210 cms.
Water released by Ambuklao flows into Binga. Water spilled from Binga is caught by San Roque Dam at the river’s downstream in San Manuel town.
At 6 p.m. Monday, San Roque began releasing water.
Residents in Villasis town panicked on Monday night after receiving a text message from the NDRRMC saying that their town was among nine towns traversed by the Agno River that should expect “sudden floods” in three to four hours.
“For us who have experienced the trauma of Typhoon ‘Pepeng’ in October 2009, the message—as constructed—from the NDRRMC brought back the horrors of that fateful day,” said former Vice Mayor Roderick Mina, now the town’s planning and development officer.
“Despite strong rains and wind, people rushed to the hillside barangays (higher ground) in panic, with their children and old folks in the middle of the night. People were out in the streets and local government officials had to stay awake overnight to assure and calm the people’s fears,” he said.
In Isabela, two people were killed in San Mariano town and another was killed in Tumauini town.
Pass impassable
Landslides have not all been cleared, making Dalton Pass, Cagayan Valley’s gateway to and from the region, still impassable.
In Santa Fe, Nueva Vizcaya, landslides buried a house and a car and caused a trailer truck to fall off a ravine there.
In Cagayan, at least 26 villages were flooded due to water discharged by Magat Dam in Isabela. Twenty six more villages were flooded in Tuguegarao and Solana town.
Evacuation in Pampanga
In Pampanga, despite sunny weather on Tuesday, local officials and police forcibly evacuated hundreds of residents in the towns of Arayat, Candaba, San Luis, San Simon and Apalit as waters dumped by Lando on Nueva Ecija reached downstream of the Pampanga River before emptying into Manila Bay.
The Pampanga River is the drainer of more than 30 rivers in Central Luzon.
Floodwaters in riverside villages in Nueva Ecija and Pampanga rose from a foot to six feet, a report from the regional disaster risk reduction and management council showed. With reports from Vincent Cabreza, Kimberlie Quitasol, Villamor Visaya Jr., Gabriel Cardinoza, Yolanda Sotelo, Johanne Margarette Macob and Cristina Arzadon, Inquirer Northern Luzon; and Tonette Orejas, Allan Macatuno, Ron Lopez and Anselmo Roque, Inquirer Central Luzon; and Ronnel W. Domingo, Jerry E. Esplanada and Jeannette I. Andrade in Manila
