113 reported dead in Eastern Visayas due to Agaton onslaught —PNP

A total of 113 fatalities were reported in Eastern Visayas alone due to the onslaught of tropical cyclone Agaton, the regional police said on Thursday.

Eastern Visayas Regional Police spokesperson Police Colonel Ma. Bella Rentuaya confirmed this to GMA News Online, saying that as of 5 a.m., their consolidated partial report showed that of the 113 deaths, 81 came from Baybay City, 31 from Abuyog, and one Motiong, Samar.

A total of 89 bodies were already named, while the remaining 24 have yet to be identified, according to Rentuaya.

The 113 reported deaths by the regional police in Eastern Visayas is higher than the 72 reported by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) in the region as of 8 a.m. on Thursday.

The NDRRMC said the reported death toll nationwide due to Agaton has increased to 76 as of Thursday morning.

Meanwhile, there are five more people missing and at least 236 injured in Eastern Visayas, Rentuaya said.

A total of 1,266 people were already rescued by the Philippine National Police (PNP) in 23 operations conducted in the region.

The report showed there were 19 police personnel also affected by the storm.

Police deployment

Further, there are 589 search, rescue, and retrieval (SRR) personnel and eight reactionary standby support force (RSSF) personnel already deployed in Agaton-hit areas in the Eastern Visayas.

There are also 1,580 more SRR and 1,074 RSSF personnel on standby for the operations.

Sixty-four PNP personnel were also deployed in evacuation areas in the region, 33 were in vacated areas, and 51 were patrolling evacuated communities.

So far, there were six relief operations conducted in the region.

There were also 21 clearing operations initiated, with no looting incidents reported.

A total of 6,555 individuals or 1,550 families were transferred in 52 evacuation centers in the region.

There were no canceled flights, stranded ships, vehicles, or people recorded.

There were 11 damaged or destroyed infrastructure in the region and at least 29 roads that are not passable.

Forty-one areas were also flooded, 192 areas have no electricity, and 36 areas do not have cellular communication.

So far, the regional police said it has three serviceable SRR rubber boats, 667 handheld radios, 223 base radios, 128 life vests, 121 generator sets, 309 vehicles, and 230 motorcycles available.—AOL/RSJ, GMA News