‘Nona’ batters S. Luzon; 11 dead
Dark clouds envelope the skyline of Metro Manila due to typhoon Nona. EDWIN BACAMAS
Typhoon “Nona” left the islands of Mindoro and Romblon in southern Luzon devastated on Tuesday, shutting down power lines, potable water supply and communication facilities, while blocking roads with uprooted trees, eroded soil and other debris, officials said.
Nona (international name: Melor), which made a fifth landfall in Pinamalayan, Oriental Mindoro, at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, was the worst typhoon to hit the island in 22 years, according to Oriental Mindoro Gov. Alfonso Umali Jr.
By late Tuesday, the typhoon paralyzed large parts of Metro Manila, with floodwaters chest-deep in some areas disrupting train services, causing traffic gridlock on major roads and stranding thousands of commuters.
Throughout the night of Tuesday to Wednesday continuous rain poured over Central Luzon provinces, as well as Baguio City and parts of Benguet, helping raise the water elevation of the reservoir of Angat Dam in Bulacan province.
President Aquino on Wednesday directed Cabinet officials to ensure giving “immediate relief,” including providing temporary shelters, to those affected the typhoon.
Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma said various government agencies were using their quick-response funds in attending to the needs of those affected by Nona.
He said the government would prioritize giving shelters to those who lost their homes.
Damage to agri, property
As of Wednesday, the operations center of the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) said that around 1.2 million people had been affected by the typhoon in Oriental Mindoro, Romblon, Marinduque, Palawan provinces, Samar Island and the Bicol region.
The PRC said more than 156,000 houses had been damaged, forcing more than 10,700 people to stay in 70 evacuation centers.
Initial damage to agriculture reached P154 million, while the value of infrastructure destroyed or damaged was placed at P51 million, according to the Office of Civil Defense (OCD).
Fatalities
Eleven people have so far been reported killed and hundreds spent the night huddled under roofs, as floods generated by Nona inundated villages. Five people were listed as missing.
But the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said six were confirmed killed.
Health Secretary Janette Garin identified two of the fatalities as Aucente Pascual Jr., 31, from Allen, Northern Samar province, who sustained head trauma when he was hit by flying debris; and Jason Desario, 28, from Matuguinao, Western Samar, who drowned.
Garin said there were two reported deaths “indirectly related” to Nona: One lost consciousness while on the way to an evacuation center, and another drowned before the onset of the typhoon.
All other casualty reports are still being verified, the Department of Health said.
In Mindoro and Romblon, at least six persons were reported killed while hundreds were evacuated and moved away from swollen rivers, flooded streets and storm surges that destroyed coastal houses.
Five people were reported killed in Northern Samar.
The typhoon made its first landfall in Batag, Northern Samar on Monday morning; made a second landfall past 3 p.m. in Bulusan, Sorsogon; and proceeded to Burias Island in Masbate for a third landfall late Monday, before hitting land for the fourth time in Bantog, Romblon early on Tuesday.
Umali said initial reports indicated huge damage to property and infrastructure in the whole Oriental Mindoro, which suffered two fatalities.
Reports likewise indicated widespread devastation in Rom-blon, with at least three persons killed at the height of the typhoon’s onslaught in the province.
This developed as the province of Sorsogon, where Nona made its second landfall, continued to reel from the effects of the typhoon.
Four-meter storm surge
A storm surge on the shore of the coastal village of Mabuhay rose to four meters or as high as a two-story building, said Senior Insp. Alex Sumayao, Bulusan’s police chief.
He said the people in Barangay Mabuhay had moved out in the nick of time because at 5 p.m. the storm surge was already crushing their houses, with about 259 of them immediately destroyed or swept away to the sea.
Allan Escueta, 58, a Balud del Norte resident, said the waves breached the three-meter high seawall at about 3 p.m. Monday and by 5 p.m. the waves became bigger and rolled over above the seawall and destroyed houses.
A 70-year-old grandmother and her 11-year-old granddaughter were killed when a tree fell down and crushed them in their house in Boton, Casiguran, Sorsogon.
Near the boundary of Barcelona and Bulusan, the typhoon skinned a school building of its corrugated iron roofs.
Edita Estuye, principal of Celso F. Falcotelo National High School, in Barangay Macabari, Barcelona, said the destroyed two-room building was newly constructed and hosted third-year classes.
Estuye showed damaged portions of the school—a building that she said was also newly constructed. “The kind of work maybe sub-standard,” she said.
Blocked roads
Umali said his office still had to verify the extent of the damage, as well as confirm the casualty report, but Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council personnel and other rescuers were having difficulty reaching devastated areas because of felled trees and toppled electric posts that blocked roads.
Landline communication was out while there was hardly any signal from wireless telecommunication service providers.
Occidental Mindoro
In Occidental Mindoro, the typhoon hit the town of Sta. Cruz at 3 p.m. Tuesday, also shutting down both power and communication facilities in its wake.
The Sta. Cruz municipal disaster risk reduction management officer, Augusto Viray, reached late Tuesday night, said about a thousand persons had evacuated to the town hall and the adjoining motor pool.
In Abra de Ilog town, also in Occidental Mindoro, local authorities also reported widespread damage with displaced families now housed at the town’s gymnasium.
READ: Oriental Mindoro under state of calamity
Romblon
In Romblon province, three people were listed killed while one went missing at the height of Nona.
But even as the weather improved on Wednesday, reports of the typhoon damage from other parts of the province have yet to come in with the island-towns of Banton, Corcuera, and Sibale remained cut off from the pro-vince’s capital—Romblon, Rom-blon—due to damaged communication lines.
Initial reports in the province recorded three fatalities: a female victim died when hit by a toppled tree; another woman who died in a road accident due to “zero visibility;” and a man who was hitby an iron sheet from a blown-off roof of a house on Banton island. A woman was reported missing in Cajidiocan town.
The OCD in Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan) reported that least 21,498 persons in the region were evacuated to shelters at the height of the typhoon on Tuesday.
Floods were also reported in Abra de Ilog in Occidental Mindoro and the towns of Socorro, Baco, San Teodoro, Naujan and Calapan City in Oriental Mindoro.
Some sections of the national roads in the towns of Socorro, Calapan City and San Teodoro in Oriental Mindoro still remained unpassable to vehicles due to floods and scattered fallen trees.
Classes in all school levels were still suspended throughout the region.
At least 2,328 remained stranded in ports in the region.
Most roads and bridges on Mindoro Island were passable by Wednesday afternoon, but power remained out in both Oriental and Occidental Mindoro provinces, said Supt. Imelda Tolentino, information officer of the Mimaropa police.
In Marinduque, only parts of Boac, the capital town, and its adjoining town of Mogpog have electricity, she said.
In Romblon, power remained down as of late Wednesday, with at least 1,5018 persons still in evacuation centers.
The entire province of Northern Samar was placed under a state of calamity on Tuesday.
There was no data on the damage sustained by Northern Samar due to Nona, considered to be the most destructive typhoon to hit the province in years. Data gathering was difficult because power and communication lines were down in the entire province.
In Legazpi City, Bishop Joel Baylon urged Albayanos to help typhoon victims as an act of thanksgiving after the province was spared from the wrath of the typhoon. Reports from Ma. April Mier, Inquirer Southern Luzon; Joey A. Gabieta, Inquirer Visayas; Tonette Orejas, Carmela Reyes- Estrope and Armand Galang, Inquirer Central Luzon; Gabriel Cardinoza; Inquirer Northern Luzon; Nikko Dizon, Jaymee T. Gamil Jovic Yee, Kristine Felisse Mangunay and Riza T. Olchonra
RELATED STORIES
81 airports now back to normal operations after Nona – CAAP
‘Nona’ weakens; storm signals raised in Bataan, Metro Manila
Red Cross seeks volunteers in relief efforts for provinces hit by Nona
