THE death toll from Tropical Depression “Agaton” has risen to 224, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported.
In its situational report as of 8 a.m. Thursday, April 21, 2022, it also said 147 people were still missing while eight were injured across six regions in the country.
Most of the dead were in Eastern Visayas, which had 202 dead, followed by Western Visayas, 17; Davao Region, 3, and Central Visayas, 2.
Agaton made landfall in Eastern Samar on April 10, moving very slowly and staying in the Samar-Leyte area until April 12, bringing heavy rains and triggering landslides.
The bulk of the missing, or 140 of the 147, were also in Eastern Samar, followed by six in Western Visayas and one in the Davao Region.
Agaton displaced 109,621 families.
Damage was reported on 11,279 houses, of which the damage was total for 760 houses.
Agaton has also brought P1.45 billion worth of damage to public infrastructure so far, the bulk of it in Eastern Visayas, according to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
DPWH Secretary Roger Mercado announced on Wednesday, April 20, 2022 that the partial cost of damage to national roads and bridges in Eastern Visayas alone was estimated at P1.30 billion, with roads accounting for P1.27 billion of the damage and bridges, P30 million.
The rest of the damage was in Mindanao, with the Caraga Region in northeastern Mindanao reporting P118.4 million in damage to national roads and P27 million in damage to bridges, and Soccsksargen in south-central Mindanao seeing P6.06 million worth of damage to national roads.
Mercado said three national road sections in Leyte and Southern Leyte in Eastern Visayas remained closed as they had been severely affected by landslides.
They are targeted for reopening before the end of this month.
The NDRRMC estimated damage to agriculture at P257 million, of which nearly 60 percent or P150 million was reported in Western Visayas, P106 million in Eastern Visayas, P874,000 in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and P8,000 in Northern Mindanao.
Separately, damage to fishery was placed at P440 million, all in the Bicol Region in Luzon.
In the last line, the damage to fishery is only P440,000, and not P440 million. (CTL)