(Eagle News) – The death toll due to Typhoon Ulysses which lashed Luzon has reached 69, as those affected by the typhoon reached 1.1 million individuals, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).
NDRRMC Executive Director Undersecretary Ricardo Jalad said that the typhoon fatalities came from six regions in Luzon. Only the Ilocos Region did not report any death.
The highest number of fatalities came from Cagayan Valley which experienced the worst flooding in more than four decades, followed by CALABARZON, and the Cordilleras, he said.
The affected population were 1.1 million individuals or almost 286,000 families.
“Typhoon Ulysses also damaged more than 3,000 houses. On the damage to agriculture, the initial estimate is almost P1 billion while for the infrastructure is P253 million,” Jalad noted in a briefing for President Rodrigo Duterte regarding the effect of Typhoon Ulysses in its aftermath,
Jalad said that days before the typhoon made landfall in the country, they have already issued instructions to local government units to do preemptive evacuation of residents in the areas expected to be hit by the typhoon.
Typhoon Ulysses hit hard areas which had already been ravaged by two previous strong typhoons. It came only two weeks after super typhoon Rolly (Goni) pummeled Luzon, especially the Bicol region, and after typhoon Quinta which had also hit areas in Luzon which were affected by Ulysses.
-Cagayan Valley records 24 deaths-
Office of Civil Defense Action Regional Director for Cagayan Valley, Harold Cabreros, said that in Region 2 alone, the fatalities reached 24, and 14 of these were due to landslide, seven (7) through drowning and three (3) due to electrocution.
“So on the landslide, here is the e area where the landslide occurred which is in Barangay Runruno, Quezon, Nueva Vizcaya, where we recorded 10 deaths, which are in a mining area which is — they were conducting small mining operations,” Cabreroso explained during the briefing.
Four also died after a landslide buried a house near the Cagayan riverbank, particularly in Baggao.
Jalad said that the NDRRMC had conducted aerial rapid assessment over Metro Manila in Region II.
“We mobilized almost 4,000 search and rescue personnel. Utilizing these assets: 62 land assets, 30 water assets and 9 air assets. And our efforts saved or rescued 83,667 individuals,” he said.
“And shown is the number of individuals provided with relief assistance as well as medical services: 44,000 provided with relief services and 28,000 with medical services,” he added.
(Eagle News Service)