Four persons were injured when a tree was toppled due to the strong rain brought by tropical cyclone “Aghon” and hit the tricycle they were riding in Legazpi City, Albay, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported on Sunday, May 26.
Strong rains due to Aghon, the first storm to hit the country this year, toppled a tree in Brgy. 62-Humapon on Saturday, May 25, which eventually hit a passing tricycle.
“We did not record any casualties in terms of death but we have four injured [people] related to the intensity of Aghon,” Office of Civil Defense spokesperson Edgar Posadas said in a press conference at the OCD Building in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.
“The NDRRM Operations Center is currently on red alert status. This is just to show that we are very serious about this, we take this seriously. We don’t leave anything to chance, all hands [are on deck],” he added.
The victims include a 30-year-old male, and three young boys aged 12, 11, and five, according to Posadas. The status of the victims has yet to be confirmed as of this writing.
In Northern Mindanao (Region 10), a reported death was also being validated by the NDRRMC.
"Right now, we have not received any report but we will look into that. We will ask our regional office in Region 10 to validate," Posadas said.
A total of 513 families composed of 2,734 individuals were affected by the strong rains and damaging winds due to Aghon in Bicol (Region 5) and Eastern Visayas (Region 8). The data is expected to further increase as more reports from regional offices of the OCD come in.
Out of the number, there were 34 families or 523 persons staying in evacuation centers while 469 families or 2,146 persons chose to stay with their relatives or friends but still being served by the NDRRMC.
The NDRRMC has distributed P59,000 worth food and non-food items to the affected individuals while P219,256 worth of supplies were also prepositioned in 17 regional offices of the OCD to augment the resources of affected local government units.
“In times like this, the government needs huge resources so we want to conserve and as much as possible, we don’t want any redundancy so we need efficient utilization of available resources,” Posadas said.
A Quick Response Fund worth P318 million remains on standby and ready to be used by the OCD at the national level to address the needs of the typhoon victims, he added.
Meanwhile, a tornado was recorded in Brgy. Kaburihan, Lavezares, Northern Samar which destroyed four houses. There were also 17 partially damaged houses in the entire Region 8.
Two rain-induced landslides were also noted in Brgy. Mabuhay, San Isidro, Northern Samar and Brgy. Libas, San Julian, Eastern Samar but no casualty has been logged.
Six areas in Eastern Samar remain flooded, according to the NDRRMC.
As of 7 a.m., Aghon was spotted in the vicinity of Dolores, Quezon while packing maximum sustained winds at 65 km per hour (kph) near the center and gustiness of 110 kph. It was moving northwestward at a speed of 15 kph.
Aghon has made landfall eight times, the most recent of which was in Lucena City, Quezon at 4:30 a.m. Sunday.
Stranded in ports
The bad weather also forced the cancellation of sea trips which stranded 5,969 passengers in Calabarzon (Region 4A), Mimaropa (Region 4B), Region 5, Central Visayas (Region 7), and Region 8.
A total of 987 rolling cargoes, 40 vessels and 10 motorboats were also stranded in 48 non-operational seaports in the affected regions.
Seven domestic flights were also cancelled in Regions 5 and 8 due to the storm.
Power, communication issues
Aghon’s damaging winds disrupted electric supply in 46 cities and municipalities in Region 5 (Camarines Sur and Masbate) and Region 8 (Leyte, Northern Samar, Eastern Samar) but power supply was already restored in 27 areas, according to NDRRMC.
Two municipalities in Masbate. – Pio V. Corpuz and San Jacinto – also experienced interruption in communication lines. “But this has already been addressed already,” Posadas said.
‘Keep safe’
Posadas appealed to the public to remain vigilant and avoid unnecessary travels while the bad weather still persists.
“We hope that everyone will also find interest in their own safety, the storm is still here. It is important for us to ensure your safety but you also have to strive to be safe. Listen to the authorities. When we are safe as individuals, we can keep our families and communities safe,” the civil defense spokesman noted.