MANILA, Philippines — The death toll from Severe Tropical Storm Maring rose to 13 yesterday while three others were injured and nine persons remain missing.
The number of fatalities is still up for validation, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.
Reports from regional and local disaster response and rescue units said six of the deaths were recorded in Benguet, four in Palawan, two in Ilocos Sur and one in Cagayan.
Three of the fatalities in Benguet are children who were buried in landslides in Baguio City, Itogon and La Trinidad.
The bodies of two of the children, aged four and 12, were recovered in Barangay Dominican Marador in Baguio yesterday.
Search is ongoing for 11 persons in Ilocos Norte, Palawan, Pangasinan, Rizal and Benguet.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) lifted the storm signals hoisted over several areas in Luzon as Maring moved away from the Philippine area of responsibility yesterday.
PAGASA said Maring would still affect the southwest monsoon and may continue to bring rains in Luzon and Western Visayas.
Meanwhile, the disaster management office in Pangasinan reported that four persons died when a concrete wall of their house collapsed during a landslide in Sison town.
The fatalities were reported to be a couple and their two children, aged three and seven.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said its quick response teams in regions hardest hit by Maring are coordinating with concerned local government units in need of relief supply augmentation.
The DSWD said it has stockpiles and standby funds amounting to more than P1 billion, including 381,893 family food packs, prepositioned in strategic locations across the country.
The agency said 2,137 families or 7,842 people were affected by Maring in Metro Manila, the Cordilleras and Cagayan Valley. At least 762 families or 2,536 people remain in 58 evacuation centers.
Agri damage hits P608.5 million
Damage to agriculture was placed at P608.5 million, data from the Department of Agriculture’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Operation Center showed.
In its bulletin as of noon yesterday, the agency said 29,063 farmers and 32,882 hectares of agricultural land in the Cordilleras, Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Bicol and Western Visayas were affected by the storm.
Rice accounted for 74.58 percent of the damage with 25,945 hectares affected. Volume loss was placed at 27,016 metric tons valued at P453.8 million.
Damage to corn was estimated at P119.8 million; high-value crops, P26.2 million; fisheries, P4.04 million, and livestock and poultry, P4.7 million.
Road closures
In its latest advisory, the Department of Public Works and Highways-Bureau of Maintenance reported that 24 national road sections have been closed since Tuesday afternoon due to fallen trees, landslides, flooding, mudslides and damaged bridges.
Seventeen of these road sections are in the Cordilleras, three in Ilocos, two in Cagayan Valley and one in Central Visayas. – Catherine Talavera, Eva Visperas, Artemio Dumlao, Jose Rodel Clapano, Rainier Allan Ronda