In the dead of night, ‘Basyang’ leaves 18 dead

(Update 3 - 7:03 p.m.) Eighteen people, three of them children, were killed while dozens were reported missing after typhoon “Basyang" (international name: Conson) battered Luzon and a system-wide blackout plunged vast areas into darkness late Tuesday night, the government said Wednesday. Most of the fatalities were from Region 4-A (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon), which recorded 15 deaths, according to a 6 p.m report of the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC). “Basyang" — the second cyclone to hit the country this year — uprooted trees, toppled electricity posts, and ripped tarpaulin billboards in Metro Manila and adjacent provinces. Power has yet to be restored in many parts of Luzon as of Wednesday afternoon. The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) said it may be unable to fully restore power within the day after strong winds brought by Basyang damaged several transmission facilities of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP), precluding it from supplying Meralco with enough electricity. "This results in the limited supply of electricity. [The NGCP is the] electricity highway, we need to source power from them," said Meralco's external communications head Joe R. Zaldarriaga in a phone interview with GMANews.TV. Meanwhile, the NGCP said that power in Metro Manila is expected to "normalize" within one or two days, it said in a statement sent via text message to GMANews.TV. As of 3 p.m., around 41 percent (5,488 megawatts) of the power load in the Luzon power grid has been restored. Power plants Masinloc 1 (300 Megawatts) and Malaya 2 (350 Megawatts) are expected to dispatch power to the grid by 6 p.m. and 12 midnight, respectively, the NGCP added in the same statement. By that time, the NGCP said that about 57 percent of the power load in the Luzon grid would have been restored.
Fatalities The NDCC identified the young fatalities as Michelle Alegre, 2, of Trece Martires City in Cavite; and siblings Darenz Cabrera, 4, and Daisy Nicolas Cabrera, 12, both of Laurel town in Batangas. The three were crushed by uprooted trees, the report said. The 12 other fatalities in Region-4 included the four who were pinned down when a warehouse collapsed in Biñan, Laguna. Some of the victims drowned. The report said two drowned in the Bicol Region, although Office of Civil Defense regional director Rafael Alejandro said four died in his area of responsibility, three by drowning and one by hypothermia. One also drowned in Mariveles, Bataan, in Central Luzon. Basyang also injured 12 people, 11 of them from Laguna while the other one was from Rizal. 57 missing NDCC executive officer and concurrent Office of Civil Defense administrator Benito Ramos said efforts are underway to account for 57 fishermen who remain missing after figuring in sea mishaps in Bataan, Catanduanes and Camarines Sur. Most of the missing are from Camarines Sur with 40 fishermen followed by Catanduanes with 11 and Bataan with six. In Southern Tagalog, Ramos said the initial estimate of damage to property was placed at P10 million. He said at least 4,935 families or 25,949 persons were affected in the three regions and in Metro Manila. Of the number, 433 families or 1,911 persons are inside evacuation centers. This was on top of the 4,164 passengers stranded at various ports. Ramos said 50 houses were destroyed and 455 others were damaged in Region IV-A and Region V. Basyang slammed into northeast Quezon province with winds of 75 miles (120 kilometers) per hour late Tuesday and weakened into a tropical storm as it crossed Central Luzon, in a path that included Metro Manila. State weather forecasters said Basyang is already on its way out of Philippine territory and is unlikely to make a U-turn. A high pressure area (HPA) over north of Luzon, particularly near Taiwan, is likely to bar Basyang from returning to the country, Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) director Prisco Nilo said at a 5 a.m. press conference. Aquino at NDCC meeting Earlier in the day, President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III presided over a meeting of NDCC member agencies in Camp Aguinaldo to assess the situation. Ramos said Aquino's directives include the conduct of an inventory of areas affected by the typhoon. He said Aquino also asked the Philippine Coast Guard "to come up with a recall system for fishermen at sea during weather disturbance" and for the "concerned agencies to ensure the safe return of evacuees especially to potentially hazard areas." Ramos said the casualties inflicted by Basyang were relatively low. "The effects are very minimal," said Ramos, adding that the low casualty rate can be attributed to the lessons learned from major typhoons last year. "The people are now receptive to our directive. They evacuate if you tell them to evacuate," he said.- KBK/JV, GMANews.TV