LEGAZPI CITY, Albay – Albay Rep. Raymond Adrian Salceda said Wednesday that super typhoon ‘’Uwan’’ caused an estimated P3.71 billion in damage in the third district, severely affecting infrastructure, agriculture, and local livelihood.

About P2.8 billion came from infrastructure losses, mostly from collapsed flood-control systems and road networks.

Agricultural damage accounted for P400 million, affecting roughly 8,000 hectares of rice fields in the towns of Libon, Polangui, and Oas, while the remaining P510 million came from residential, commercial, and other economic disruptions.

Among the most severely damaged structures were the Centro Oriental and Gabon dikes in Polangui, the Bobonsuran, Malama, and Paclas flood-control structures in Ligao City, and the Carisac dikes in Libon.

The San Francisco dike in Guinobatan, which already showed erosion after tropical cyclone “Kristine,” has totally collapsed. Embankment failures were reported in the Ubaliw-Talongog and Ilaor Norte-Busac sections of Oas.

In a statement, Salceda said the latest devastation follows a pattern of compounding impact, as most of the flood-control structures damaged by Kristine in 2024 have now completely collapsed after Uwan.

“We appeal for help in restoring these critical defenses. It is the only way to prevent this level of damage from happening again,” Salceda said.

Salceda said local governments resorted to sandbagging and community-built embankments to slow the water along the Quinale River and its tributaries.

“The sandbags bought us time for evacuation. They worked for hours, not days. But the underlying dikes are now fully eroded,” he said.

"Thanks to early warnings and preemptive evacuation. Around seventy-five thousand families, some in evacuation centers, others with relatives in safer areas, evacuated before landfall. We worked closely with the LGUs and our barangay networks to make sure no one was left behind,” Salceda said.

He credited coordination among the Department of Public Works and Highways, the Bureau of Fire Protection, local government units, and community volunteers for ensuring that all major roads were cleared and passable within 48 hours after the storm.

Salceda added that many rice farmers were forced to harvest early, a necessary decision to save what they could before flooding, but one that will likely cause a temporary collapse in farmgate prices.

“We have asked the Department of Agriculture and the National Food Authority to consider local procurement or emergency market support so our farmers do not bear the full cost of protecting their crops,” he said.

Salceda emphasized that the district’s recovery cannot be sustained on local effort alone.

“We have shown that preparedness works. Our zero mass-casualty outcome proves that. What we now need is national partnership to rebuild stronger flood defenses and irrigation systems,” he said.

“We fully trust the President’s commitment to scientific, evidence-based governance. We are ready to work with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Office of Civil Defense (OCD), the Department of Agriculture (DA), and National Irrigation Administration (NIA) to make sure every peso spent goes to structures that will actually last,” Salceda added.