Lando exits Philippines, leaves P9.8 B worth of agri, infra damage

MANILA, Philippines – The low-pressure area that used to be Typhoon Lando left the Philippine area of responsibility yesterday, according to state weather forecasters.

In its 11 a.m. advisory, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said the low-pressure area was located 1,030 kilometers east northeast of Itbayat, Batanes.

“This weather system has already been outside the Philippine area of responsibility and no longer have an effect on any part of the country,” PAGASA said.

The storm, which entered the Philippines last week, developed into a slow-moving Typhoon Lando and made landfall in Aurora on Sunday.

For several days, it dumped torrential rains in northern and central Luzon, inundating several provinces and leaving at least 47 people dead.

Various areas have been placed under state of calamity, including the provinces of Isabela, Aurora, Pangasinan, Cagayan, Nueva Ecija, Quirino and Nueva Vizcaya.

Several towns in Ilocos Sur, Bulacan, Pampanga and Tarlac have also been placed under state of calamity.

Billions worth of crops have been damaged because of the typhoon.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said Lando left P9.8 billion worth of damage to agriculture and infrastructure.

Lando also totally demolished 3,203 houses, leaving thousands of families in Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog and Cordillera Administrative Region homeless.

The agriculture sector was hardest hit, with farmers in the affected regions losing P8.6 billion worth of crops and P1.2 billion worth of infrastructure that came in the form of destroyed roads, bridges and buildings.

Hardest hit were the agricultural provinces of Nueva Ecija, Aurora, Nueva Vizcaya, Isabela, Ilocos and Pampanga where rice fields and a number of communities were inundated.

Lando started to weaken after making landfall at Casiguran, Aurora on Sunday but it continued to grind through the provinces of central and northern Luzon for almost a week before it melted into a tropical storm and to a low-pressure area. – With Jaime Laude