The number of fatalities from the bad weather system that affected almost all parts of the country in the past days has already reached 27, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) disclosed on Sunday, Jan. 15.
This, as the NDRRMC reported that there were seven other fatalities that were reported by its local offices.
Of the figure, 14 were validated to be related to the bad weather condition most of them in Eastern Visayas and Zamboanga Peninsula Region with six and five fatalities respectively.
A total of 13 more deaths are yet to be validated--five of them in Bicol, five in Northern Mindanao and three in Zamboanga Region.
Three other people were in the missing list.
The bad weather system started on Jan. 1 when a trough of Low Pressure Area (LPA) was spotted outside the country's areas of responsibility. It eventually brought heavy rains and affected a total of 13 regions in the country.
Based on the NDRRMC data, damaged P258 million worth of agricultural products and wrought more than P174 million damage in infrastructure.
More than 614,000 people from over 151,000 families were affected mostly due to widespread flooding that also forced the evacuation of 112,596 people from 31,575 families.