'Emong' leaves 24 dead

MANILA, Philippines – Twenty-four people were confirmed killed while 20 others were reported missing as typhoon “Emong” (international name Chan-Hom) hammered Northern Luzon late Thursday, disaster officials reported yesterday.

Police Director Leopoldo Bataoil of the Philippine National Police Directorate for Integrated Police Operations (DIPO)-Luzon said most of the fatalities came from Pangasinan and Ifugao provinces, which bore the brunt of the typhoon. Bataan, La Union and Zambales provinces also reported deaths from the storm.

In Ifugao, thirteen people were killed and two others were missing after Emong cut a swath through the province and damaged 80 percent of major roads and bridges, reports from Baguio City said yesterday.

Among the dead was a six-day-old baby and his mother, identified as Rosita Tinol.

As of 2 p.m. yesterday, Emong was spotted some 360 kilometers east of Tuguegarao City, packing winds of 55 kilometers per hour near the center.

Robert Sawi, senior weather forecaster at the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), said after crossing the mountains of Northern Luzon, Emong hovered over Isabela and moved toward the Philippine Sea.

“That’s the reason why it did not rain today in Metro Manila as expected,” he said.

Emong is likely to leave the Philippine area of responsibility tomorrow, Sawi said.

Ifugao Gov. Teodoro Baguilat has placed the entire province under a state of calamity after damaged roads and bridges isolated the province from Cagayan Valley and the rest of the Cordilleras.

In Baguio City, Kennon Road remained closed to vehicular traffic as of press time, while other routes were being cleared of rocks and mud.

The Lanog Bridge in Barangay Paniki, Bagabag town linking Nueva Vizcaya and Ifugao has been cut off due to floodwaters.

Hundreds of commuters bound for Ifugao remained stranded as of press time.

The first three bodies dug out from the mud in Ifugao were those of the Daang sisters Grace, 15; Marie Fe, 23; and Vency Mae, 10. The body of their 23-year-old brother Samuel was recovered before noon Friday.

Two other family members remain missing after a landslide buried their house in Kiangan town.

Nine people were killed in that town during the landslide on Thursday night and early morning Friday.

Olive Luces of the Office of Civil Defense in the Cordilleras said a huge boulder rolled down and buried the hillside house in Barangay Pindungan at 8:45 Thursday night.

Several hours later another landslide occurred in nearby Barangay Dumang Linda at around 3 a.m. Friday.

Four were killed and another five were injured after three houses were buried.

In Ifugao’s capital town of Lagawe, another landslide occurred Friday morning, burying two houses.

Rescuers are now looking for two elderly people who were reportedly buried in the landslide.

The body of truck driver Marcos Ofo-ob was recovered under thick mud in Upper Pitawan, Hingyon town.

His truck loaded with rice was covered with cascading rocks and mud at the height of Emong’s fury.

Seven families were evacuated to safer ground in Barangay Dinapugan, Kiangan because of the threat of landslides.

In Nueva Vizcaya, a man died while three others were reported missing after Emong crossed Cagayan Valley yesterday.

The body of Merlyn Antonio, 45, was recovered along a riverbank in Barangay Villaflores in Santa Fe, Nueva Vizcaya.

Antonio was swept away by rampaging waters while trying to cross the river in Barangay Atbu during the typhoon.

Cagayan Valley police director Chief Superintendent Roberto Damian said Carmen Anguluan, 45; her son Macmac, 7; and one McDave Calibuso, 5, were also feared to have drowned after their banca capsized due to the strong current of the Matalag river at sitio Balisi, Barangay Gagabutan East in Rizal, Cagayan about 12 noon yesterday.

Some 15,000 families from more than 100 barangays in the region’s four mainland provinces were also displaced or affected by the typhoon.

Nueva Vizcaya’s hardest hit areas were the towns of Bambang, Solano, Villaverde, Bayombong and Bagabag.

Isabela’s northern towns, especially those along the Pinacanauan River, were also hit by heavy floods.

Thousands of hectares of farmlands have been submerged in floodwaters, destroying hundreds of tons of harvestable rice, corn and vegetables.

Officials have yet to estimate the damage to agriculture caused by the typhoon.

Trees, electric posts, houses swept

Emong swept trees, electric posts and several houses from western Pangasinan, La Union, up to the Cordilleras and down to Cagayan Valley.

Ilocos police director Chief Superintendent Ramon Gatan, chairman of the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council, identified the fatalities in the Ilocos region as Benedicto Fortes of Rizal, Tubao, La Union who was hit by a falling steel roof beam, and Veronica Viray de la Cruz of Lingayen, Pangasinan who suffered head injury after slipping on a concrete pavement.

A certain Amante Hemarangan of Samara, Aringay, La Union was seriously injured after he accidentally touched a live wire.

The extent of damage to property, infrastructure and agriculture is still being determined.

Power has been restored in most parts of Pangasinan, while some areas in La Union are still experiencing power outage as of press time.

The Pangasinan provincial board declared yesterday a state of calamity in the first congressional district on recommendation of Gov. Amado Espino Jr.

The towns of Bolinao and Anda, and Alaminos City bore the brunt of the typhoon, with about six people initially reported dead.

About 80 percent of houses were either totally destroyed or their roofs blown away.

Aside from Bolinao, Anda and Alaminos City, the first congressional district covers the towns of Bani, Dasol, Burgos, Agno, Mabini, Infanta, and Sual.

Former Bolinao mayor Jesus Celeste said their town was a total mess, with about 80 percent of houses damaged.

People were evacuated to the town’s gymnasium, town hall and the church, he added.

Anda Mayor Nestor Pulido said he received an initial report that three brothers drowned after they remained in their hut in the middle of fishpens and fishcages.

Most affected are coastal barangays where about 90 percent of the houses were heavily devastated, he added.

Alaminos City Mayor Hernani Braganza told Aksyon Radyo Pangasinan that houses in the city were heavily damaged during the typhoon.

The city-run Philippine Tourism Authority Resort at Lucap Wharf was totally damaged and the roofs of the gymnasium in Barangay Lucap and the church were blown away, he added.

Burgos town Mayor Domingo Doctor Jr. told The STAR many houses in his town were destroyed.

Caboangaoan Elementary School was heavily damaged, he added.

In Lingayen town, 84-year-old Veronica de la Cruz of Barangay Naguelguel fell on the road while walking at the height of the typhoon.

In Bani, Rodolfo Valmonte died due to falling debris.

In Central Luzon, two people died when Emong battered the region, according to officials.

In Bataan, a four-year-old child identified as Ashely Dualos fell into a river and drowned in Porta Rivas in Balanga City at the height of the typhoon, according to provincial disaster coordinating council official Ben Aquino.

Eight crewmembers of a barge docked near the coastal barangay of Cabcaben in Mariveles town were rescued by the Philippine Coast Guard Thursday night, the Bataan Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council reported yesterday.

In Sta. Cruz, Zambales, Jeremy Ambalisa, 53, was reported to have died of a heart attack as flood waters rose swiftly in his house at about 10 p.m. last Thursday, according to provincial disaster coordinating council official Arman Robles.

A total of 196 families with 808 members went to evacuation centers amid flooding in the town, he added.

Reports from other parts of Zambales were not immediately available yesterday.

Close to 100 people were evacuated from their homes near the overflowing Gugu creek in Barangay Dolores, but

returned home as the weather improved yesterday. — With Artemio Dumlao, Helen Flores, Charlie Lagasca, Eva Visperas, Ding Cervantes, Raffy Viray, Jun Elias, Dino Balabo,