Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Deaths rise as monsoon rains, floods plague southern RP
THE fatality toll in the floods due to heavy rains that have fallen in the southern part of the country for the past several days has increased with 16 people already having died, 11 others injured and eight more reported missing.
Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) spokesman Anthony Golez said seven of the fatalities perished in flashfloods early Tuesday in the town of Kapatagan in Lanao del Sur province, which he said, also injured 11 others.
Golez said the nine other fatalities earlier reported included six persons who were buried in a landslide caused by the heavy rains in the mountainous village of Anonan in Aurora town, Zamboanga del Sur province last Monday.
Among those missing are one-year-old Vanessa Dawa and her two-year-old sister Elay who have yet to be found since a landslide hit the village of Upper
Koronel in Saranggani town in Davao del Sur province a few days ago. The landslide left two people dead.
The heavy downpour and resulting deluge has also displaced over 15,000 people in the provinces of Misamis Oriental, Davao Oriental, Compostela Valley, Davao del Sur, North Cotabato, Sarangani, Sultan Kudarat, South Cotabato; and Cotabato, General Santos, Tagum, and Davao cities.
Initial figures from the field also disclosed that the calamity has also caused an estimated P9.5 million in damage to infrastructure, P26 million in damages to houses, and P9.1 million in damages to agriculture, said Golez.
Meanwhile, another storm, codenamed Katring, was spotted 1,115 kilometers east of Basco, Batanes and is anticipated to bring more rains to the eastern portion of the country, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said. Katring has winds of 65 kilometers per hour (kph) near the center and gustiness of up to 80 kph. (VR/Sunnex)
(August 16, 2006 issue)
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