THE PHILIPPINE government on Sunday reported three deaths, three injuries and three missing persons linked to Severe Tropical Storm Wipha (Crising) and intensified southwest monsoon rains.
Two of the deaths were from Northern Mindanao, while one was reported in the Davao region, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said in a report on Sunday morning. The agency said all three deaths were still under validation.
All injured people were from Soccsksargen in south-central Mindanao, the agency added. Meanwhile, three people were reported missing in Western Visayas.
The NDRRMC said 370,289 people from 120,008 families have been affected by Crising and monsoon rains. Of these, 6,720 families or 22,623 people were sheltering in evacuation centers as of Sunday.
The storm also damaged at least 410 houses, 66 of which were totally destroyed, the agency said.
Crising intensified into a severe tropical storm on Friday, days after a low-pressure area was first spotted east of Catanduanes on July 15. The storm exited the Philippine landmass on Saturday, but rains persist.
As of 3 a.m. on Sunday, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said Crising was 655 kilometers west of Itbayat, Zambales, with maximum sustained winds of 100 kilometers per hour (kph) and gusts reaching up to 120 kph. It was moving west-northwest at 30 kph.
Despite Crising’s exit, the state weather bureau said in a 4 a.m. bulletin that the southwest monsoon would continue to bring rains over several areas of the country.
PAGASA earlier forecast that the country might experience 11 to 19 tropical cyclones from July to December, including two to three for the month of July alone.
Earlier this year, the Department of Agriculture reported that various calamities including typhoons, El Niño, pest infestations and volcanic activity resulted in P57.78 billion in farm losses last year.
In a related development, the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) last week urged rice farmers in Central Luzon and the Bicol region to intensify field monitoring, warning that wet-season conditions could accelerate pest and disease outbreaks.
Citing the Bureau of Plant Industry, PhilRice identified the brown planthopper, bacterial leaf blight, rice blast, rice stemborer and rodents as key threats from July to September.
“Cloudy, rainy days with temperatures of 25‑30°C are ideal for brown planthopper outbreaks,” it said. “We expect heavier infestations and more cases of hopperburn.”
The Philippines lies along the typhoon belt in the Pacific and experiences about 20 storms each year, with about eight to nine typically making landfall. It also lies in the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, a belt of volcanoes around the Pacific Ocean where most of the world’s earthquakes strike.
The Southeast Asian nation constantly experiences unavoidable losses and damage equivalent to 0.5% of its annual economic output mainly due to an increasingly unpredictable climate, according to the Finance department. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza