Six more fatalities related to the combined effects of the enhanced southwest monsoon (habagat) and Tropical Cyclones “Luis” and “Maymay,” bringing the death toll to 19, according to the latest report released by the Office of Civil Defense on Tuesday, Aug. 11.

The OCD said the death toll due to a landslide in Barangay Guisad Surong, Baguio City on Sunday rose to nine following the recovery of five more bodies. Separate landslide incidents were previously reported in La Trinidad where two cooks died and in Atok where one person was killed.

Meanwhile, one new death due to drowning was listed in Binangonan, Rizal. The OCD earlier recorded two deaths in Rodriguez due to a landslide and one in Antipolo after a delivery rider was struck by a fallen tree.

In Batangas, the death toll remained at three: one each in Batangas City, Lipa City, and Santa Teresita town due to drowning, electrocution, and landslide, respectively.

The number of injured also increased to 15, with Benguet tallying the most at 12: eight in Baguio, two in La Trinidad, and one each in Kapangan and Atok due to landslides and a vehicular accident.

One person was injured in Suyo, Ilocos Sur due to a landslide, another one in Rodriguez, Rizal due to strong currents, and one more in Naic, Cavite due to a vehicular accident.

Further, the OCD said four persons also remained missing: two in Baguio and one in Atok, Benguet due to separate landslides, and one in Batangas.

A total of 2,270,862 individuals from 646,676 families were affected by the torrential rains from the severe weather disturbances across 10 regions namely Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), National Capital Region (NCR), Ilocos (Region 1), Cagayan Valley (Region 2), Central Luzon (Region 3), Calabarzon (Region 4A), Mimaropa (Region 4B), Bicol (Region 5), Western Visayas (Region 6), and Zamboanga Peninsula (Region 9).

The widespread impact has also forced 94,997 individuals or 26,174 families to seek temporary shelter in 919 active evacuation centers.

OCD spokesperson Junie Castillo said the hardest-hit areas were spread across several regions, with La Union and Pangasinan bearing the brunt in Ilocos Region.

“If we are talking about the areas, Region 1 is considered the hardest hit, particularly the provinces of La Union and Pangasinan,” Castillo said.

CAR was also heavily affected, particularly Baguio City and Benguet, where landslides have caused most of the reported deaths and injuries in the latest figures.

In Central Luzon, Castillo identified Zambales, Bataan, Pampanga, Bulacan and Nueva Ecija among the badly affected areas.

The effects of the weather disturbances have also reached Calabarzon and Metro Manila.

Meanwhile, the disasters also damaged 684 houses, of which, 639 were partially damaged while 45 were totally destroyed.

Infrastructure losses ballooned to P1.456 billion while damage to agriculture was estimated at P135.33 million.

The government has so far provided P73.52 million in assistance to affected communities.

Castillo said response agencies were preparing for more rains even if conditions were expected to improve temporarily.

“According to PAGASA, the weather will calm down a little, but by the weekend, the rains will return,” he said.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) has continued to monitor the weather situation as habagat remains capable of bringing heavy rains over parts of the country.

Castillo stressed that residents should not let the temporary improvement in weather lead to complacency.

“For our fellow Filipinos, it is very important that we remain prepared and alert while the response agencies continue to stand by,” he said.

“In fact, all response clusters are on standby, aside from those already deployed for response operations, because we are looking at more rain in the coming days,” Castillo added.