Rolly left 6,000 Albay residents homeless —governor

Super Typhoon Rolly left more or less 6,000 individuals in Albay province homeless, Governor Al Francis Bichara said on Tuesday.

"There are about maybe 6,000 homeless because their houses were totally damaged along the coastline, along riverbanks," Bichara said in an interview on ANC.

"Until now, some of the houses are still submerged and they have to stay in evacuation centers."

Rolly was a "super typhoon" when it made landfall on Catanduanes before dawn on Sunday, packing maximum sustained wind speeds of 225 kilometers (140 miles) per hour and dumping heavy rain across the region.

It made its second landfall over Tiwi, Albay, hours later.

As of Tuesday morning, Bichara said there is still no power supply all over the province because the transmission towers of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines were damaged by the strong typhoon.

"More or less, according to the electric cooperative, within the Legazpi area and some neighboring towns, we may have electricity within two weeks time, but it depends on the NGCP if they can do the repair of the transmission lines and the towers," Bichara said.

Regarding water supply, Bichara said the province has enough. The governor also said most of the roads in the province are now passable.

Meanwhile, Bichara appealed to the national government for help, saying the provincial government only has around P60 million as calamity fund for the next two months.

"Kaunti na lang, we only have about P60 million para sa calamity for the next two months," he said.

"Sa dami ng taong walang bahay, they are all in evacuation center so we need more than that," he added.

Aside from additional funds, Bichara also requested for food and construction materials for his constituents. —KBK, GMA News