Infra damage due to Enteng, Habagat soars to nearly P700M

Tropical Cyclone Yagi (formerly Enteng) and the enhanced Southwest Monsoon or Habagat have caused nearly P700 million worth of damage to infrastructure across six regions as of Sunday, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

Based on NDRRMC’s latest situational report, Bicol Region sustained the most infrastructure damage amounting to P356.1 million. Next to it was Cagayan Valley with P111.9 million and Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) with P50.3 million.

In total, more than 500 infrastructures around the country accounted for P698.9 million cost of damage. 

Twenty-five roads and 10 bridges also remain impassable in some areas. 

A total of 7,622 houses sustained damage due to the inclement weather—of which 493 were totally destroyed and 7,129 need to be repaired. 

The weather systems also caused P658.9 million worth of agriculture damage or production loss in Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Bicol Region, Western Visayas, and Eastern Visayas.

“Nung [bagyong] Carina, may na-damage na rin sa atin. Ito’y hindi accumulation, panibagong pinsala po ito. Kumbaga, karagdagang pinsala,” Office of Civil Defense (OCD) administrator and NDRRMC executive director Undersecretary Ariel Francisco Nepomuceno said in a Super Radyo dzBB interview. 

(During Typhoon Carina, we already incurred damage. These new numbers due to Enteng are not an accumulation of damage, but a new one.) 

Twenty people reportedly died due to Enteng but all are subject for validation. Twenty-six individuals are still missing. 

According to Nepomuceno, due to the elapsed time, retrieval, not rescue, operations are ongoing for the missing persons. 

“Ang nawawala pa rin 26. Hinahanap pa rin naman 'yan, kaya lang baka retrieval na po ‘yan,” he said. 

(A total of 26 people still remain missing. We are still searching for them, but we may shift to retrieval operations.)

Enteng and the Habagat affected a total of 2,553,203 people or 714,360 families in 2,360 barangays nationwide.

Of these, 33,430 individuals were still staying in 439 evacuation centers, while 47,412 others were seeking temporary shelters elsewhere.—RF, GMA Integrated News