Typhoon 'Pedring' death toll rises to 33, property damage pegged at P1.14B

The death toll from Typhoon “Pedring" rose to 33 late Wednesday evening while damage to infrastructure, farms and fisheries was placed at P1.14 billion and large parts of typhoon-hit provinces were still without electric power, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC). Listed as injured were 31 persons while the missing were 41 in the 11 p.m. update of the NDRRMC Wednesday. Some 5,027 homes were either totally or partially destroyed by the typhoon. Over 21,000 families remained in 263 evacuation centers. The Department of Education said 96 public schools in the National Capital Region and 36 in the Bicol region were serving as temporary shelters for typhoon victims. The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines reported to the NDRRMC that all of Benguet province and much of Nueva Vizcaya, Zambales, Isabela, and Nueva Ecija still had no electricity because Pedring damaged many transmission lines and power distribution facilities. Pedring also rendered impassable 17 bridges and 45 road sections in six Luzon regions. Wednesday evening, the Ipo, Angat, Ambuklao, Binga, and Magat dams reached spilling levels and released water by opening several gates.

Also as of 8 p.m. Wednesday, the San Roque dam office said if heavy rainfall continued over the next 24 hours, that water reservoir will reach spilling level as well. Dam officials there said there has been heavy rainfall in their area, especially at the Mt. Ampucao station, where they had 496 millimeters of rainfall over the previous 24 hours. Their Baguio station experienced rainfall of 290 mm in 24 hours. — ELR, GMA News