Ulysses toll: 3.5 million displaced; 10 billion agriculture, infrastructure damaged

MANILA, Philippines — Typhoon Ulysses has directly affected 3.5 million people and left over P10 billion worth of damage to agriculture and infrastructure in its wake, latest data from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) showed.

In its latest situation report issued yesterday, the NDRRMC said a total of 835,599 families were affected in 5,898 barangays in Ulysses’ path.

Some 221,437 persons or 55,352 families are still being served inside 1,525 evacuation centers in Luzon.

Ulysses (Vamco) left 73 people dead, 24 injured and 19 persons still missing in Regions II, Calabarzon, Bicol and Cordillera Administrative Region.

NDRRMC data showed that infrastructure damage alone reached P6.07 billion.

Region 2 accounted for over P2.3 billion in infra damage, followed by Region V and Region III with P1.68 billion and P1.19 billion, respectively.

The number of partially and totally damaged houses totaled 65,222 homes in the six regions.

Most were tallied in the provinces of Bulacan, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija and Pampanga, according to NDRRMC spokesperson Peter Galvez.

Galvez said 48 roads and 48 bridges were affected by the typhoon and are still not passable.

Out of 360 cities and municipalities that experienced power outages, only 126 have fully restored power as of yesterday.

Meanwhile, P4.017 billion worth of agriculture damage were incurred.

In Pampanga, damage to crops reached P253,188,808.

According to the latest report of the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA), the damage to palay crops now reached a total of P114,847,716 for the entire province.

President Duterte issued Proclamation 1015 that placed the entire Luzon under a state of calamity due to the massive impact brought by a series of typhoons in the past weeks.

This allows local government units to access quick response funds during emergency situations and an automatic price freeze would be in effect.

The state of calamity shall remain until lifted by the President.

“Our efforts will continue until it is needed and it is required so we don’t know when that would be but definitely it will be an extensive period of time. I’m asking all our kababayan let’s all help each other in assisting our countrymen. So everyone can return back to their way of life,” Galvez added.

The provinces of Cagayan, Isabela and Cavite earlier declared a state of calamity in their jurisdictions due to Ulysses.

Massive flooding incidents from Cagayan Valley to Metro Manila and down to Camarines Sur were experienced following the onslaught of Ulysses through Luzon last week. – Mayen Jaymalin, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Edu Punay, Ric Sapnu, Artemio Dumlao