‘Milenyo’ death toll soars to 61; 69 missing, 90,000 homeless

Typhoon "Milenyo" left 61 people dead, 81 injured and at least 69 people missing, authorities said Saturday. With heavy rains and 130-kph winds, "Milenyo" damaged at least 9,000 houses, drove out at least 18,000 families, or 90,000 people, into evacuation centers. In all, the typhoon has affected at least 185,000 families, or almost a million people in 17 provinces and 14 cities. The National Disaster Coordinating Council on Saturday said the worst hit area was Bicol region, particularly the provinces of Sorsogon and Camarines Sur where about P20-million and P177-million worth of infrastructure and agriculture were lost, respectively. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo called on lawmakers from Bicol to use their Countrywide Development Fund to help their constituents. Mrs. Arroyo was in Sorsogon Saturday afternoon to look into the extent of the damage brought about by the typhoon. Authorities were expecting the figures to go up as local disaster teams continued to inspect the affected areas. As of posting time, the NDCC was still trying to collate the figures from Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog and the National Capital Region. Strong winds brought about by the typhoon toppled power lines and billboards, leaving most of Luzon, including Metro Manila, without power and telephone services on Thursday and Friday. At least 380 cell sites and 27 power towers were damaged. Still in the dark As of Saturday evening, Metro Manila has only about 80 percent of its power restored while about 60 percent of Luzon was still without electricity. The National Transmission Corp. claimed to have sustained "huge losses" due to damaged power lines and from its failure to deliver electricity. Transco delivers 120,000 MWH every day at an average price of P3 per MWH. Most of the toppled power lines were in Bicol, Quezon and Camarines Norte. Transco had difficulty restoring electricity to areas serviced by electric cooperatives in Southern Luzon after distribution posts were damaged. "The cooperatives need to repair their own electric distribution posts before they can receive electricity from Transco," a Transco official said. He said it would be difficult to tell whether Transco would be able to meet the October 3 target to fully restore electricity in the Bicol region. Meanwhile, authorities said an initial estimate of damage to crops was placed at P171 million, while repair of damaged infrastructure could cost P354 million, or a total of P525 million. In Metro Manila alone, damage to infrastructure was estimated at P210 million. Another storm coming With a new tropical depression poised to enter the Philippine territory Sunday night, President Arroyo directed civilian and military officials to rush the restoration of power service and completion of repair work on facilities damaged by typhoon "Milenyo." At an NDCC meeting in Malacañang Saturday, Arroyo ordered the military to help clear roads of fallen trees, billboards, and posts. "We have to effect normalization in Metro Manila and other areas devastated. I think we have to work with [local government units] and [nongovenrment organizations]," she said. Trade Secretary Peter Favila, Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla III and Manila Electric Co. president Chito Francisco attended the meeting. Favila reported queues of people at gas stations. "We should tell the public they don’t have to stock up," he said. The report prompted Arroyo to instruct Favila and Lotilla to go on radio and television to explain the situation to the people. "Use Channel 4 (National Broadcasting Network) and Radyo ng Bayan (Philippine Broadcasting Service) to go on 24-hour basis," she said. During the meeting, state weather forecasters said a new tropical depression is expected to enter the Philippine territory Sunday night. Meralco president Chito Franciso said that as of Saturday, power had been restored in "80 percent" of its service area but admitted restoration work for the southern parts remained problematic. He said restoration was 100 percent complete in the north, which includes Bulacan, and 60 percent in the central area, which includes Manila. "In the south we are having a hard time. We’re only 47 percent complete because there are more trees in the south, and many subdivisions are waiting for us to clear the trees," he said. "We should be substantially back in Metro Manila by this weekend. When I say back, I mean the circuit is back, the circuit breakers in substations. Then we have to go down the line and mop up the area," he added. Armed Forces chief of staff Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said he had deployed four contingents of 500 personnel each to help in clearing operations. - GMANews.TV