Paeng death toll tops 60 as Queenie nears PH

NO ROAD IN SIGHT | Marikina River remains swollen on Sunday, submerging the road alongside it, after Saturday’s heavy rains caused by Severe Tropical Storm Paeng (international name: Nalgae), which is expected to complete its slow exit from the Philippine area of responsibility by this afternoon. (Photo by LYN RILLON / Philippine Daily Inquirer0

While officials continue to reckon the fatalities and damage left by Severe Tropical Storm Paeng (international name: Nalgae), another tropical depression was forecast to gain strength and is expected to enter the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) by Monday morning.

The death toll from Paeng has climbed to 60, while 40 others were injured and 22 were still missing after the powerful typhoon dumped heavy rains and set off deadly flooding and landslides in many parts of the country, reports from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) and the military in Mindanao said on Sunday.

The NDRRMC said that 40 of the deaths were recorded in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

But Maj. Gen. Arturo Rojas, chief of the Western Mindanao Command, said the number of casualties in Maguindanao, Zamboanga City and Tawi-Tawi had climbed to 52 as of Saturday.

The council also listed three deaths in Soccsksargen (South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos City), two each from Western and Eastern Visayas, and one in the Bicol region.

The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) in Bicol, however, listed two deaths in Masbate and Albay, while the local governments of Bulacan and Romblon reported one death each. The OCD in Western Visayas also reported that seven people had drowned in the region as of Sunday due to Paeng.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said in a bulletin at 11 a.m. on Sunday that the tropical depression, which would be named “Queenie” on entering PAR, was located 1,250 kilometers east of northeastern Mindanao.

The state weather bureau said it expected the tropical depression to turn northwestward by Tuesday as it nears the sea east of Visayas, but added that it was unlikely to make landfall during its stay within PAR and directly affect the country.

Paeng itself was not yet out of the country, as its center was estimated at 295 kilometers west of Iba, Zambales, according to Pagasa’s Tropical Cyclone Bulletin 25 issued 5 p.m. on Sunday.

BARMM hit hardest

Paeng’s wrath forced some 170,000 individuals to flee their homes and take shelter in evacuation centers.

A total of 932,077 individuals or 277,383 families were affected in 2,445 barangays in Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Bicol Region, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, Davao Region, Soccsksargen, Caraga, BARMM and Cordillera Administrative Region.

Interim Chief Minister Ahod “Al Haj Murad” Ebrahim of the BARMM has placed the entire region under a state of calamity, following the massive flooding and devastation affecting close to 600,000 individuals.

BARMM’s Rapid Emergency Action on Disaster Incidence (READi) reported 182,263 households from at least 30 localities, mostly in Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur, that were affected by floods as of 6 p.m., Saturday, the worst to hit the autonomous Muslim region in recent years.

Of those affected, 337,980 individuals were in Cotabato City, a chartered city in Maguindanao and the seat of BARMM’s government.

Floods affected 67,596 households in Cotabato City; followed by Sultan Kudarat in Maguindanao del Norte with 26,977 households, affecting 134,885 individuals; and Upi, Maguindanao del Norte, with 8,619 households, affecting 43,095 people.

Although BARMM was not directly in Paeng’s path, the heavy rains dumped by the storm caused heavy flooding in the two Maguindanao provinces, devastating communities and destroying bridges, infrastructure and crops.

Luzon damage

In Zamboanga City, the city government confirmed that five had died, three were missing and more than a dozen were injured due to flooding.

Paeng left at least four persons dead, submerged in floodwater whole communities, forced thousands to flee their homes, and destroyed vital infrastructure in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) and in central and northern Luzon over the weekend.

Electricity supply was cut off or erratic in a number of areas in the Cagayan Valley, Ilocos and Cordillera regions, as strong winds toppled poles and fallen trees damaged power lines.

ALL AFFECTED | Resident Divina Duazon (left), 65, cries as she looks at her home in Noveleta, Cavite province, submerged in floodwaters. In Barangay Centro 04 (right), Tuguegarao City, farmers bring their animals to safety. (Photos by RICHARD A. REYES / Philippine Daily Inquirer and from the Tuguegarao City Government)

Reports on the damage sustained by localities were difficult to collate at the provincial and regional levels with most communication to towns cut off by the storm, officials said.

Gremil Alexis Naz, OCD-Bicol spokesperson reported that one of the fatalities, Ronito Arguilles, 60, was swept away by the strong current while trying to evacuate from his flooded house near a swollen river in Mandaon town in Masbate at around 3 a.m. on Saturday.

Another fatality, Gloria Buitre, 57, of Manito, Albay, drowned after she fell from a small banca while fishing at the port area in Barangay Tinapian also in Mandaon on Saturday.

In Bulacan province, the body of Leo Chavez, 42, was found floating on a river in the City of San Jose del Monte on Sunday, a day after he was reported missing at the height of the storm’s onslaught.

In Romblon’s Odiongan town, police reported that the body of farmer Giovani Barcenal, 56, was found by residents in Barangay Tuburan at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday beside a coconut tree that fell and hit him.

Roads closed

In Quezon province, the Bantilan bridge in Sariaya town that linked the province to San Juan, Batangas, collapsed on Saturday after it was overwhelmed by raging river currents.

In the Cordillera, major arteries remained closed because of landslides or as a precautionary measure.

Erosion hit the Halsema Highway (also known as the Baguio-Bontoc Road), which was closed to traffic on Saturday night.

Halsema is the main road used to ship salad vegetables grown in Benguet province and Mountain Province to lowland markets such as Metro Manila, although truckers are able to access bypass routes.

Repairs have been started on a section of the pavement along Bontoc town in Mountain Province which caved in, according to the Department of Public Works and Highways. Erosion blocked roads leading to the Mountain Province towns of Natonin, Barlig, and Sadanga.

In Antique, a bridge linking two of its towns collapsed during Paeng’s onslaught, cutting off the only means of connection between the northern and southern parts of the province.

According to Broderick Train, chief of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO), the destruction of the Paliwan Bridge, which connects the towns of Laua-an and Bugasong, could trigger a crisis in the distribution of relief goods.

There are no alternative routes between the two municipalities for now, and Train said they were considering the use of local fishing boats or sea vessels in delivering goods and people.

State of calamity

Department of National Defense officer in charge and acting NDRRMC Chair Jose Faustino Jr. said the council has submitted its recommendation to declare a national state of calamity to President Marcos to allow the release of calamity funds and mandate a price freeze on essential products.

The local governments of Tapaz town in Capiz and the province of Aklan have already declared a state of calamity following the massive floods spawned by Paeng, according to a report by the OCD in Western Visayas (OCD 6) on Sunday.

The latest data released by the OCD-6 as of 5 a.m. on Sunday showed at least seven people drowned while two others remained missing after 171 barangays in Western Visayas were flooded, displacing more than 169,000 people.

Five of the fatalities were from Libacao town in Aklan while one was from Tapaz town, Capiz, and another from San Joaquin in Iloilo.

The OCD report said that Paeng affected 145,743 families or 558,849 people in 10 towns in Aklan, 15 towns in Antique, 16 towns in Capiz, 2 towns in Guimaras, 29 towns and one city in Iloilo.

In Eastern Visayas, the OCD confirmed two deaths by drowning in the town of Matuguinao, Samar, and Abuyog, Leyte.

Eleven persons, 10 of them fishermen, remained missing on Sunday.

At least 70,568 families were affected when Paeng hit the region on Friday, the OCD report stated. Most of them were displaced due to flooding.

Based on the report of the regional headquarters of the Philippine National Police, 4,066 families or 13,812 people in the region were still in the different evacuation centers on Sunday.

—REPORTS FROM MADONNA T. VIROLA, VINCENT CABREZA, ARMAND GALANG, MA. APRIL MIER-MANJARES, KIMBERLIE QUITASOL, VILLAMOR VISAYA JR., CARMELA REYES-ESTROPE, JOEY MARZAN, JULIE ALIPALA, CONNIE FERNANDEZ-BROJAN, JOEY GABIETA AND ROBERT DEJON 

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