Basyang leaves 5 dead, 2 hurt, 6 missing in Batangas

Batangas City –At least five people were killed, two others were injured and six were missing, after typhoon Basyang battered portions of Batangas province on July 14, the provincial disaster coordinating council (PDCC) said in a very belated report on the casualties and losses brought by the first tropical cyclone that hit the country this year.
     Batangas Civil Defense Chief Pedrito Dijan, Jr., identified the fatalities as Marcelina Bathan, 47, resident of Sta. Maria village in Laurel; sisters Daisy Nicolas, 12, and Darenz Nicolas, 4, of Bugaan West village in same town; Mhyx Elipongga, 1 year and 8 months old of Balibago village in Lian and Ronald Argente, 27, of Matabungkay village in said town.
     Dijan said Bathan died of electrocution, while the Nicolas sisters died when a mango tree fell on their house. Elipongga meanwhile was drowned after she fell on a nearby creek, while Argente was drowned as he tried to save his cow from the flood waters.

     Meanwhile, he said that 65-year-old Renato Tan of Kaylaway village in Nasugbu town was injured after a tree fell on him.
    As of presstime, elements of the police and the Philippine Coast Guard are still looking for six missing victims identified as Natalio Gravantes, 38; Jessie Regencia, 21; Julie Regencia, 21; Aldrich Yuldi, 2, Prescilla Yuldi, 35, all residents of Laurel town.
     Seventy-two year old Benjamin Ventura was also missing after floods swept his house beside a creek in the village of Banga, Talisay town. In Agoncillo town, Liwayway Sarmiento, from Brgy. Bilibinwang sustained leg injuries during the landslide.
     Typhoon Basyang, with an international name of Conson, was the first tropical cyclone to reach the Philippine mainland.
     Packed with strong winds of 120 kilometers per hour, the typhoon wrecked havoc on the National Capital Region, Central Luzon, Calabarzon (Cavite-Laguna-Batangas-Rizal-Quezon) and Bicol regions, affecting a population of about 241,651 persons in 88 municipalities of 12 provinces.
     In a July 20 report published in its website, the National Disaster Coordinating Council said that the Calabarzon Region, where Batangas province is located, had the highest number of casualties, with 41 dead, 24 injured and 34 missing.
     The report also said that the estimated cost of damage from the typhoon on the four affected regions had already amounted P189.6 million, with infrastructure having the most damage pegged at P114.6 million.
     Office of Civil Defense Administrator Benito Ramos said the typhoon had damaged 31,542 houses, 3,691 of which are totally wrecked.
     As of July 20, he also said that at least 465 families or 2,365 persons remain housed inside 16 evacuation centers in various municipalities of the affected regions.
     Based on its assessment, the NDCC said most of the municipalities affected by the typhoon in Calabarzon Region were also the same areas affected by Typhoon Ondoy in September last year.
     It however said that the damages brought by the Typhoon Basyang are “very minimal” compared to the effects of Ondoy.
     “The strength of typhoon Ondoy was only 105 kph (kilometers per hour). However, prior to its landfall near the boundary of Aurora and Quezon, it brought more rainfall caused by the southwest monsoon, which caused widespread flooding in most parts of Metro Manila, Southern and Central Luzon, as well as other parts of Visayas and Mindanao, while typhoon Basyang was 120 kph but it didn’t bring more rainfall,” the NDCC said.
    On its final report issued on July 18, the PDCC said that the typhoon left an estimated total damage of about P161.44 million in Batangas province.
     Of the said figure, Dijan said that infrastructure of the province had the most damage amounting to P102.4 million, followed by the agriculture sector with P58.6 million worth of losses and livestock that lost a whooping P445,500 worth of damages.
     At least 133 houses in 14 towns were totally destroyed by the typhoon, while 1,428 are partially damaged.
     Laurel town incurred the most damage in livestock with an estimated worth of P360,500. Five cows, six carabaos, six hogs and two goats were reportedly killed by the typhoon.
     Dijan added that the typhoon destroyed 92.05 hectares of corn plantations, 29.75 has. of ampalaya (bittergourd) farms, 12 has. of banana, 2.25 has. of tomato farm, and some other fruits vegetable farms in Balete, Malvar and Talisay towns amounting to P14 million.
     The typhoon also destroyed 87 fish cages in Talisay town and a still undetermined number of cages in San Nicolas, damaging about P45.2 million worth of tilapia and bangus stocks.
     Most of the said stocks are already in harvestable size, the PDCC said.
     The Batangas provincial government had already extended financial assistance of P10,000 to P15,000 each to relatives of dead, injured and missing typhoon victims.
     It also had given P73,412 worth of food and non-food items to affected families in Nasugbu, Calatagan, Lian, Talisay and Laurel towns. (Marlon Alexander S. Luistro)