Pangasinan: The Pangasinan Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) has recorded over PHP1.2 billion worth of damage from the recent weather disturbances.
According to Philippines News Agency, the damages include PHP481 million to infrastructure, over PHP790 million to agriculture, and PHP4.3 million to livestock, as per the latest situational report of the PDRRMO as of 5 a.m. on Friday. PDRRMO emergency operations center head Pia Flores mentioned that infrastructure damages primarily involve dilapidated concrete pavement, potholes, and damage to slope protection and flood control.
The official reported that the verification of damages to agriculture is ongoing, with significant losses in palay, high-value commercial crops, corn, and fisheries, amounting to PHP392 million, particularly affecting fish cages, fingerlings, and motorized and non-motorized boats. A state of calamity has been declared in 25 municipalities and three cities out of the 48 localities in Pangasinan as of Friday.
The casualties include a 15-year-old male injured due to falling debris, and there are ongoing verifications of a drowning incident in Mangaldan town, alongside confirmed cases of drowning in Dagupan City and an electrocution case. Flores reported 6,192 totally destroyed houses and 49,298 partially damaged houses in the province, with District 1 or Western Pangasinan being the most affected area, where Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal Nos. 3 and 4 were raised during Typhoon Emong's onslaught.
Most Western Pangasinan localities are experiencing power interruptions, except for Sual, which has fully restored power, and Infanta and Dasol towns, where only one barangay is left to be restored. Floodwaters have receded in the previously flooded areas.
The severe weather conditions began affecting the province on July 18 due to Severe Tropical Storm Crising, followed by Tropical Storm Dante, Typhoon Emong, and the enhanced southwest monsoon, which lingered through July. Relief operations and medical missions are being conducted by the provincial government through the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office and the Provincial Health Office in severely affected areas.
The PDRRMO is assisting the Office of the Civil Defense in relief operations, providing water and shelter kits. Flores stated that the province is under blue alert status as of August 6 due to a low-pressure area that later developed into Tropical Depression Fabian on Friday. Preparations are underway for potential effects from the monitored low-pressure area and tropical depression within the Philippine Area of Responsibility, which may affect extreme Northern Luzon and influence the southwest monsoon.
