Typhoons cause P102-M damage in Pampanga

Sun.Star: A boy remains missing while some P102 million in damage to property was sustained in Pampanga province in the wake of storms “Chedeng" and “Dodong." Sun Star cited sketchy reports Saturday identifying the boy as Benedict Pangilinan, a resident of Del Carmen village in San Fernando City. However, it said the details of Pangilinan’s case remained sketchy. Earlier, the National Disaster Coordinating Council reported that Pampanga resident Arnel Magcalas, 42, of Sta. Rita town, was fatally electrocuted. On the other hand, at least 14 towns and the capital city remained flooded, with the provincial government reporting about P102 million in damages as of Friday. As of 5 a.m. Friday, 219 villages in Lubao, Masantol, Apalit, San Luis, Minalin, Mexico, Macabebe, Sasmuan, Candaba, Sta. Ana, Guagua, Arayat, Bacolor, Sta. Rita and San Fernando City were submerged in floodwaters. Families affected now number 64,474 or 325,871 persons, 82 of which have been evacuated to 10 evacuation centers in the province. The provincial government said it has extended P199,892.24 in assistance to affected people. In San Antonio, Floridablanca, 1,016 families were affected when rushing waters along the Santol Creek breached a concrete dike and flooded the nearby communities. Damage in Guagua town as of Friday afternoon was reported at P15 million as water depth ranges from four inches to four feet. In the same town, 22 of the 24 barangays in the area were flooded, prompting the Municipal Government to declare the town under a state of calamity. Mayor Ric Rivera said the central business district was paralyzed except for the wet market. In Floridablanca, 1,016 families were affected after the Santol Creek in Barangay San Antonio collapsed during the influx of heavy rains on Wednesday. Candaba local officials declared the town under a state of calamity following huge damage to crops, infrastructures and properties. Mayor Jerry Pelayo said damage to rice and vegetable crops have reached more than P65 million involving 5,800 hectares of farmlands. The damage to infrastructure, including dikes, farm-to-market roads, irrigation canals and schools may reach P105 million. He added that the destroyed Maasim dike alone might need about P30 million for reconstruction and improvement. As of Friday afternoon, about 200 marginalized families from Barangay San Agustin were threatened by the rising floodwaters. Local officials prepared two evacuation centers, the Candaba Central Elementary School Annex and a private school in the Poblacion area. The 14 barangays of the Tagalog Region sharing the boundary with Baliuag and San Ildefonso, Bulacan experienced flooding, which reached four meters deep in some inhabited areas and much deeper in the rice farms. The biggest single damage was the breached Maasim Dike within the boundary of Barangay Pulong Gubat in Candaba, Pampanga and San Ildefonso in Bulacan. It diverted the rushing floodwaters from the Maasim River directly into the middle of the Candaba Swamp where half of the planted rice fields in the Tagalog Region were situated. In the Kapampangan Region, the Malisic River overflowed, eroding its protective dikes at four points. The floodwaters affecting eight barangays and destroyed newly planted palay. - GMANews.TV