MANILA, Philippines — The reported death toll due to the combined onslaught of Tropical Cyclones Maymay, Luis and southwest monsoon or Habagat has now climbed to 15, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said Monday.
As of its 6 am report on August 10, the PNP said casualties totalled 34 including the 15 reported deaths, 13 injured and nine missing.
The PNP however clarified that the official confirmation and validation of deaths will be announced by the Office of the Civil Defense and that their numbers were only the data gathered from the ground.
The deaths were mainly due to drowning, electrocution, rockfall/landslide and fallen tree. Of the number, two were from Region 1, seven were from Region 4A and six were from the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).
The PNP, along with other lead government agencies also rescued 50 individuals from regions 1,3,4A and CAR.
OCD numbers
However the OCD’s latest situational report only released 13 deaths which are still subject for validation with nine injured and one missing.
According to the OCD, the affected population has now blown to 223,000 families or 752,000 persons. Of this, 10,000 are staying in evacuation centers or at least 32,000 families all coming from regions 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, CAR, MIMAROPA and CALABARZON.
About 300 houses were damaged with 24 totally wrecked. Infrastructure damage reached P1.12 billion while agriculture damage reached P3.5 million.
The total cost of assistance provided now totalled P33.94 million.
Normal alert
Despite the continued rains, the PNP remains under normal alert but with heightened readiness on the ground.
As of Monday, the total deployed police personnel are 3337 specifically to address the search, rescue and retrieval operations from the weather disturbances.
“Normal alert lang tayo, so heightened a little but normal alert lang po tayo. Titignan po natin kung kinakailangan na, titignan po ng leadership ng Philippine National Police, especially ng Directorate for Operations, kung kailangan po nating itaas ang alert level,” Col. Allen Rae Co, PNP spokesman said in a press briefing at Camp Crame.
“Sa ngayon po, walang nakikitang pangangailangan ang Philippine National Police para itaas po ang ating alert level,” he added.
Co said assessments are made if situations are managed by units concerned. If needed, the PNP will beef up deployment to address ground conditions.
So far, there have likewise been no reported incidents of looting.
