‘Quinta’ leaves 13 people dead in Western Visayas

MANILA, Philippines - Thirteen people have died from storm “Quinta” in Panay island and Leyte, while six others remain missing.

The dead are Warlito Lutero and Erlinada Almorante of Janiuay town; Mark Angelo Bayotas of Barotac Nuevo; KC Lozada of Lambunao; Jonal Deretso of Bingawan; Benedicto Castor of Calinog;

Jocel Suterio of Zarrag of Iloilo; Frederick Fardriga of Sto. Angel, Dumalag, Capiz; and Nilo Ikawalo and Romeo Edoreta of Malinao, Aklan, according to Rosario Cabrera, Western Visayas Office of Civil Defense head.

In Leyte a family of three died when an uprooted tree crushed their house.

Cabrera said five people trying to cross rivers and creeks in Panay at the height of the typhoon remain missing.

Four of them were identified as Christian Olivar of Dumalag, Capiz; Samson Barredo of Barotac Nuevo; Onad Leysa of Calinog, Joel Meija of Zarraga.

Cabrera said they were swept away as the river overflowed in San Miguel in Iloilo.

The Iloilo provincial government has placed several flood affected areas under a state of calamity, including the towns of Passi, Bingawan, Janiuay and Dumangas.

Flooding has already subsided in Calinog and nearby areas.

In Capiz, floods affected 818 farmers from 73 barangays in seven towns, whose rice farms of 1,359 hectares were destroyed, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

Benito Ramos, NDRRMC executive director and Office of Civil Defense administrator, said Quinta’s flooding displaced a total of 4,944 families or 28,242 people from 48 barangays, 25 towns, five cities and five provinces in Bicol, Western, Central and Eastern Visayas.

Of this number, 2,614 families or 15,609 people are receiving food and non-food items amounting to around P250,000 from the government.

Power back to normal

Power delivery in the Visayas is back to normal after transmission lines that Quinta had damaged were restored.

In a text message, National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) spokesperson Cynthia Perez-Alabanza said: “For Quinta, all lines were restored shortly after the midnight of Dec. 27.”

Quinta caused the tripping of transmission lines in the Visayas. Outages affected customers of Eastern Samar Electric Cooperative Inc. and Southern Leyte Electric Cooperative Inc.

The NGCP expects to restore normal power transmission service in Mindanao late this month.

Alabanza said target completion date is before the new year.

“NGCP continues to work on restoring transmission lines in typhoon Pablo stricken areas in Mindanao despite the inclement weather,” she said.

As of Dec. 26, restoration efforts were more than 90 percent complete.

The Department of Energy said complete restoration and repair of the facilities is targeted before the new year.

Alabanza said customers of Surigao del Sur Electric Cooperative Inc. and Davao Oriental Electric Cooperative Inc. are still experiencing outages.

“Weather in the area is already agreeable so restoration operations ought to be in full swing, barring bad weather,” she said.

The NGCP had tasked 25 line gangs or 200 linemen to help in the restoration.

It utilized all resources, including sourcing of materials from other regions and using of helicopters in hauling and erecting of poles to fast track the restoration of power in Mindanao.

Damage to crops

Quinta has inflicted minimal damage on palay, corn and high value crops in eight provinces, according to the  Department of Agriculture.

Agriculture Secretray Proceso Alcala said the storm was able to provide respite to parched lands in Western Visayas comprising the provinces of Aklan, Capiz, Iloilo and Negros Occidental.

“The rains for a while flooded cultivation areas but subsided after only three hours,” he said. “There were affected areas but the impact is minimal.”

Before Quinta, cloud seeding was being conducted over Western Visayas.

Quinta’s damage to agricultural was valued at P124.4 million. – With Czeriza Valencia, Neil Jerome Morales