Agricultural damages due to 'Egay,' 'Falcon' balloon to over P2.75 billion

MANILA, Philippines — While the previous Super Typhoon Egay and Typhoon Falcon may have subsided from their paths of destruction in the Philippines, data on the damages both caused continues to pour in to this day.

According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council on Saturday, the tropical cyclones had already affected over 3.03 million residents, including:

• dead: 29
• injured: 165
• missing: 11
• displaced: 285,202
• inside evacuation centers: 51,593
• outside evacuation centers: 233,609

Out of all those who died, 27 of which are still for validation. Most of the said casualties were reported to have happened in the Cordillera Administrative Region.

"Egay" ancd "Falcon" had caused flooding, landslides, tornadoes, etc. in various areas in the country, affecting the regions of Ilocos, Cagayan Valley and Central Luzon the most.

The two tropical cyclones and the intensified southwest moonsoon have already affected 14 out of 17 regions throughout Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

Agricultural damages jump by almost P1 billion

According to the NDRRMC, agricultural damages due to the said weather systems are now at P2.75 billion. This figure is far from the P1.93 billion in production losses on Friday.

This had already affected over 117,033 farmers and fisherfolk throughout the nation, leaving over 143,429 hectares of crop area damaged.

"The estimated cost of damage to infrastructure amounting to P3,631,012,164.44 was reported in Region 1, Region 2, CALABARZON, MIMAROPA, Region 5, Region 6,
Region 8, Region 11, Region 12, BARMM, CAR," the council said.

On the other hand, a total of 56,994 houses have already been damaged. While most only took partial damages, 2,288 homes were said to have been totally destroyed.

A total of 232 cities and municipalities have so far declared a state of calamity, enabling the government to institute a price free on basic necessities.

Over P248.32 billion of assistance have been provided to those affected by the storms in the form of family food packs, financial aid, etc.

PAGASA earlier said that it expects two to three tropical storms to enter the Philippine area of responsibility in August 2023.