CROP damages lost to Severe Tropical Storm Ulysses have now reached a total of P253,188,808, according to the latest report of the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA), as more towns and municipalities registered their respective losses.

The OPA said damages to palay crops have now reached a total of P114,847,716 for the entire province. Reports of crop damage are usually sent to the Department of Agriculture and are then verified.

In the OPA report, the majority of palay damage are in San Luis (P14,583,861), Arayat (P30,168,180), Candaba (P14,391,776), San Simon (P19,976,348) and Mexico (15, 836,875).

Damage to high-value crops (HVC) has also risen to a total of P25,894,994. Porac town, where there is a bustling industry for HVC, reported the highest number of losses at P22,342,094 followed by Lubao town with P1,000,000.

Losses to the fisheries sector have also increased, with damage now pegged at P70,334,168. Masantol alone registered a total of P14,422,658 and Macabebe town, the hardest hit, with P44,522,185. Other coastal towns like Sasmuan and Minalin also posted damages at P3,024,700 and P8,364,625, respectively.

Corn crops in the province also sustained some P21,055,965 worth of damage. Most of the damages are in Porac with P6,545,250 worth of losses, as of press time. Arayat town also reported some P5,704,860 worth of damage to its corn crops.