Members of the Philippine Army, Philippine National Police and the Odiongan Romblon Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office evacuate residents as flood water level rise due to heavy raiins brought by Tropical Storm Dante on June 2, 2021. PIA Romblon
MANILA - The death toll due to Tropical Storm Dante rose to 4, and thousands of families remain in evacuation centers after the weather disturbance inundated Mindanao and parts of Visayas, the country's disaster response agency said Thursday.
The country's fourth storm took 4 lives in Soccskargen and Davao regions so far, while there were 2 people hurt and 7 people missing in Visayas and Mindanao, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRMMC) said in its 8 a.m. bulletin.
The reported fatalities are the following:
- Male, 1 year old from Panoraon, Davao de Oro (cause: suffocation due to mud and debris)
- Male, 71 years old from Malalag, Davao del Sur (cause: flash flood due to heavy rain)
- Female, 14 years old from Norala in South Cotabato (cause: drowning)
- Male, 55 years old from Norala in South Cotabato. The agency said the body was recovered on Wednesday.
The NDRRMC report does not include the two deaths announced in Calubian, Leyte
The NDRRMC said it already launched search and rescue operations for the 7 people reported missing, of whom 4 were from Western Visayas who supposedly went fishing despite the bad weather.
The agency added that 9,831 families or 45,456 people from Soccsksargen, Davao, and Caraga regions were affected by the weather disturbance.
Of those, 3,090 families or 12,071 individuals are staying in 104 evacuation centers.
With the cancellation of sea travel, 3,414 passengers, 1,206 rolling cargoes, and 97 vessels were stranded in various ports in Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Bicol, Western and Eastern Visayas, and Caraga regions.
Eleven provinces also experienced power interruption in the same regions, except Calabarzon.
Two provinces in Eastern Visayas, meanwhile, reported network interruption due to the storm, the bulletin read.
After lashing Mindanao, the storm left 6 houses damaged in the Davao Region.
'DANTE' DESTROYS OVER P16-M WORTH OF CROPS, P268.5-M INFRASTRUCTURE
Meanwhile, based on the Department of Agriculture's disaster response monitoring as of 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Dante caused P16.12 million worth of damage in the agricultural sector.
According to the agency, 780 hectares of land area were affected, with 505 metric tons of production loss, mostly involving rice and corn products from Soccsksargen and Caraga regions.
The storm also left P268.5 worth of infrastructure damage in Mindanao and parts of Visayas, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said.
The DPWH said that the storm destroyed P106.2 million worth of roads and flood-control structures in Central Visayas, and caused damage worth P162.32 million to flood-control structures in the Soccsksargen region.
PAGASA already lifted all storm signals as of Thursday morning, as Dante left the Philippine landmass.
The weather disturbance was last estimated 205 kilometers west northwest of Dagupan City, Pangasinan at 10 a.m., moving northwest at 35 km per hour while packing maximum winds of 65 kph with gusts of up to 90kph, according to the state weather bureau.
It is expected to weaken into a tropical depression on Friday and into a low pressure area by Saturday.
Dante entered the Philippine area of responsibility early Sunday.
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