By Tonette Marticio
LOPE DE VEGA, Northern Samar – The provincial board has declared the entire province under a state of calamity Thursday following damage and casualties caused by Tropical Depression “Usman.”
Northern Samar (FACEBOOK / MANILA BULLETIN)
With the declaration, the province can draw from its disaster fund to help 46,922 families in 19 towns affected by the storm.
Eight people were reported killed, with two still missing. The tropical depression had also caused damage worth P62 million to infrastructure and P33 million to agriculture.
Lope de Vega town, the worst hit by “Usman,” still has no electricity, water supply and mobile phone signal.
The Lope de Vega to Catarman Road was closed by landslides and floods and only became passable last Wednesday.
Lope de Vega Mayor Ana Palloc said at least P5 million is needed to fix the water system, but they only have around P4 million in calamity funds, which is not even enough for 2,963 families affected by heavy flooding and landslides.
He said shelter kits are also needed for the more than 2,000 families whose houses were either damaged or destroyed.
Myrna Cuanico of Poblacion Purok 7 said her family lost everything in their house, which was also destroyed by flood.
"In my 50 years of existence, this is the first time that we have encountered such flooding which reached up to 10 meters, walang natira maski damit naming (not even our clothes were left)," she said.
Along the streets, residents were seen drying salvaged furniture and clothes.
Arnoldo Rosales, Lope de Vega Elementary School principal, told Manila Bulletin the school was not damaged, but classes have not yet resumed because 2,500 students in their district lost all their books and uniforms.
Palloc said students would have to walk to school because the flood also destroyed their two school buses.
The municipal police station was also not spared by the storm. Sr. Insp. Joe Lucero said floodwaters reached the station’s second floor. Almost all of the station’s equipment and documents were also damaged.
"We are doing our best to secure our area despite what happened because we are constantly under threat by the NPAs (New People’s Army). Hopefully some personnel will be augmented here so we can start rebuilding our station and assist in relief operations," he said.
PAF operation
Meanwhile the Philippine Air Force (PAF) Friday said that it has been working overtime to help provide prompt assistance to all the victims affected by “Usman.”
PAF Public Affairs chief Major Aristides M. Galang, said Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response teams from the 505th Search and Rescue Group, with the help of the 220th Airlift Wing have been conducting rescue and retrieval operations in all typhoon-hit areas mostly devastated by heavy landslides and flashfloods in the Bicol area.
At the height of the heavy rains from December 29-31, 2018, Disaster Response Teams from the Tactical Operations Group 5 and Tactical Operations Wing Southern Luzon were also deployed in the area.
The death toll of 122 persons, as of 12 noon Thursday, was reported by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) from the regions of CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas and Quezon), MIMAROPA (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan), Bicol, and Eastern Visayas.
Office of Civil Defense (OCD) Director for Operations Director and NDRRMC spokesman Edgar Posadas also reported 28 missing and 60 persons injured.