Catanduanes, Albay bear the worst part of ‘Rolly’

The strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year destroyed thousands of homes and killed at least 20 people in the Bicol region, authorities said on Monday, as communication lines in the worst affected areas continued to be down.

The provinces of Catanduanes and Albay were the most affected by Typhoon “Rolly” (international name: Goni), which hit the region like a super typhoon on Sunday morning, bringing fierce winds that toppled houses, trees and communication lines, and it caused flooding and landslides that engulfed houses. and sent thousands of people to flee to emergency shelters.

President Duterte toured the typhoon damage in the region by air on Monday and landed in Guinobatan, Albay province, where he told residents that Bicol would always be in danger “as long as it faces the Pacific Ocean and has a volcano here. “

He was referring to Mt. Mayon, who was asked by Guinobatan residents to check for a quarry, which they blamed for avalanches of volcanic ash and mud every time it rained.

“Who is the owner of the quarries?” Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, a former aide to the president who accompanied him on the tour, asked residents.

“Politicians,” yelled a resident.

Mr. Duterte and Go promised to investigate the quarries on the volcano before departing for an aerial inspection of the storm damage in southern Luzon.

In a televised public address after arriving in Manila, Duterte reported on the complaint from Guinobatan residents, saying that he had asked Public Works Secretary Mark Villar and Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu to investigate the quarries in the mountain. Mayon.

“I said we will investigate. We will ask Secretary Villar and Secretary Cimatu who would have knowledge of these things, if they can do something about it, ”Duterte said.

Later, Cimatu ordered the quarries around Mt. Mayon and suspended the permits of 12 groups operating in the area. Cimatu said the initial investigation found that operators had left their reserves in the rivers, which grew during heavy rains brought by Rolly, which flooded towns and killed four people.

Civil defense officials said Rolly, which became a typhoon when it struck southern Luzon on Sunday afternoon, displaced 372,381 people and left 53,863 homes without power.

Volcanic ash, mud streams

Of the 20 who lost their lives in the storm, five were from Catanduanes and one from Albay, authorities said.

Most of the deaths were washed away or buried by volcanic ash and mud that thundered down the slopes of Mt. Mayon as torrential rain and monstrous winds hit the active volcano in Albay.

Ten of the fatalities were from that province, but provincial disaster chief Cedric Daep said that without preventive evacuations, “thousands would have died.”

Search and rescue efforts were conducted on Monday for three people reported missing in Albay.

The floods affected the Albaicín towns of Camalig, Santo Domingo, Oas, Polangui, Guinobatan, Rapu-Rapu and Daraga.

In the province of Camarines Sur, floods were reported in 30 localities.

Catanduanes Governor Joseph Cua said Rolly was more devastating than other strong typhoons that hit the province in previous years.

“If we compare Typhoon Rolly with previous super typhoons like ‘Rosing’ (Angela) in 1995 and Typhoon ‘Nina’ (Nock-ten) of 2016, Typhoon Rolly was stronger,” Cua said in an online briefing.

Damages to the main abaca industry in the province were estimated at P400 million and other crops at P200 million, Cua said.

Police Lieutenant General Cesar Binag, deputy chief of police operations, said 90 percent of the infrastructure in Catanduanes was damaged.

The representative of Catanduanes, Héctor Sánchez, said that almost 10,000 small houses on the coast were “totally razed.”

More than 3,000 large houses were damaged, he added.

Communication with the island-province was cut off for hours until a civil defense team landed on Monday with telecommunications equipment.

Cua called on telecommunications companies to restore their lines so residents can communicate with family members in Manila and abroad, and on the Department of Energy to help the local electricity cooperative speed up the repair of power lines. destroyed by the typhoon.

He called on transport officials to restore ferry service between the province and Albay.

In a briefing at the national disaster council office at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City, presidential spokesman Harry Roque assured Cua that relief was on its way to Catanduanes and that he himself would coordinate with telecommunications companies to reestablish communication with the island.

The Department of Public Works and Roads (DPWH) reported during the briefing that 14 stretches of national highways, the majority in Camarines Sur, remained closed due to landslides, floods and downed trees and power poles.

DPWH said clean-up efforts were underway on nine other stretches of national highways that two previous typhoons left impassable.

The three typhoons closed 23 stretches of national highways to traffic, the department said.

“We work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, especially in the Bicol region, to make sure we help the affected areas that need relief operations,” Villar, the head of public works, said in a statement.

Undersecretary for Social Welfare Felicisimo Budiongan said his agency had distributed aid worth more than P164,000 in Albay.

Help for farmers, fishermen

Agriculture Secretary William Dar assured farmers and fishermen of assistance to help them recover from the damage done to their industries by Rolly.

Dar said his department had a rapid response fund of 400 million pesos for the rehabilitation of damaged agricultural areas.

Rolly, the 18th tropical cyclone to hit the Philippines this year, affected 2.1 million people in Luzon, accounting for more than two-thirds of the economy.

Before Rolly’s arrival, the country was still recovering from Typhoon “Quinta” (Molave) that killed 22 people, mostly by drowning in the provinces south of Metro Manila.

Another storm, “Siony” (Atsani), is gaining strength in the Pacific Ocean as it approaches the Philippines, which is battered by about 20 tropical storms a year. —REPORTS FROM LEILA B. SALAVERRIA, REY ANTHONY OSTRIA, MAR ARGUELLES, JEANNETTE I. ANDRADE, JEROME ANING, DONA Z. PAZZIBUGAN, AFP AND REUTERS

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