Typhoon damage in Central Luzon placed at P500 M

Typhoon "Reming" has left at least P500 million in damage to infrastructure, livestock and agriculture in Central Luzon where the death toll has risen to seven and the number of missing persons to 14, disaster control officials said.

In other developments:

• The Bamban-Mabalacat portion of the MacArthur Highway in Tarlac was opened to traffic the other day, but other major routes linking the province to Pampanga, Nueva Ecija and Pangasinan remained closed to all types of vehicles due to overflowing floodwaters.

• Disaster officials in Nueva Vizcaya called on Malacañang yesterday to place the province under a state of calamity because the typhoon destroyed about P40 million worth of crops and infrastructure.

• Authorities in Pangasinan reported that the howler left about P90.1 million in damage to agriculture, fishery and infrastructure in the province’s three cities and 45 towns.

• Torrential rains caused flash floods in at least six towns in South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat yesterday, leaving an initial damage of P12 million to property, crops and infrastructure.

Central Luzon’s disaster coordinating council said several barangays in the region’s 45 municipalities remained flooded yesterday, affecting about 100,000 families.

Chief Superintendent Roberto Calinisan, who chairs the council, said 10 passengers of a motorboat that capsized off Dingalongan in Aurora last Monday, remained missing. Four other missing persons were reported in Pampanga (three) and Zambales (one).

The typhoon also destroyed hundreds of houses in Bataan, Aurora and Zambales. Aurora, Calinisan said, was isolated for three days due to landslides.

Calinisan inspected flood-control facilities in Pampanga, Tarlac and Zambales last Tuesday, and found them intact despite rampaging floodwaters.

Public cemeteries in some Pampanga and Bulacan towns remained flooded.

In Tarlac, disaster officials said that the Concepcion-Magalang Road, the alternate route to the Mabalacat-Bamban section of the MacArthur Highway, is impassable to all types of vehicles due to floodwaters overflowing from the Sacobia River.

Tarlac’s major link to Nueva Ecija, the La Paz-Zaragoza Road, has been closed since Monday due to three to four feet deep floodwaters overflowing from the Chico River.

Light vehicles were prevented from taking the Romulo Highway, which links Tarlac to Mangatarem town in Pangasinan, because of floodwaters gushing from the Camiling River.

Authorities placed the typhoon damage to the province’s agriculture at P60 million, and to infrastructure at P14 million.

Some 2,500 people in Barangays Bueno in Capas, Sto. Niño in Bamban and San Jose in Gerona remained isolated due to the swelling of the O’Donnell, Sacobia and Tarlac rivers, respectively.

The provincial board and Tarlac City council have separately declared the city under a state of calamity.

In Pangasinan, the provincial disaster coordinating council (PDCC) said the fishery sector incurred the biggest typhoon damage at about P61.65 million, followed by agriculture at P23.27 million and infrastructure at P5.235 million.

The typhoon left two persons dead and six others missing, and affected 122,875 Pangasinan residents.

In Nueva Vizcaya, the PDCC, in an emergency meeting called by Gov. Rodolfo Agbayani, asked President Estrada to place the province under a state of calamity due to the extent of typhoon damage. – Ric Sapnu, Charlie Lagasca, Benjie Villa, Eva de Leon and Allen Estabillo