MANILA, Philippines — The governor of Catanduanes on Monday said then Super Typhoon 'Rolly' dealt heavy damage to the province, describing its extent as worse than what was sustained from a similar super typhoon in more than two decades with over 15,000 families affected and five reported dead.
Rolly first made landfall in Bato, a municipality in the island province, at around 4:50 a.m. on November 1 shortly after intensifying into a super typhoon with peak winds of 225 kph and gusts of up to 280 kph.
At a video teleconference with national government officials, Gov. Joseph Cua said Rolly was stronger than 'Rosing' (international name Angela) in 1995 which had the wind speed recorded of 260 kph and left nearly a thousand dead throughout the Philippines.
He also reported that the initial number of casualties were a result of drowning while crossing rivers and being reached by floods, with storm surge reaching about 5 meters in height.
Power and signal lines too have been cut off, leaving the province with no means of communication as well as short in supply of drinking water.
"Before tumama yung bagyo, wala nang ilaw for security reasons siguro," Cua said. "Pero ngayon ang damage sa electric posts about 80% ng mga poste o facilities ng local cooperatives."
(Power was cut off for security reasons even before the storm hit us. But it had left about 80 percent of damage in electric posts as well as other facilities of local cooperatives.)
Cua, citing estimates, said Catanduanes' abacca sustained P400 million in damage, with other crops at about P200 million. He said that some P150 million per month goes into the province for the abacca it exports.
Damage to infrastructure, meanwhile, was put at around P700 million with roads, bridges and school buildings affected as well. Some 65% of houses built from light materials also took hit, with 15,000 currently in shelters.
Undersecretary Ricardo Jalad, executive director of the NDRRMC, told Catanduanes officials that a specific C-130 flight to the province will ferry food packs on Tuesday, as well as portable drinking water.
An emergency communications team was deployed earlier today to Catanduanes in a bid to restore power lines, as concerns flood over social media about the situation of the province hard hit by the super typhoon.
Rolly has so far left 16 people dead per latest figures from disaster officials, with over two million individuals in 12 regions affected.
While it has since weakened after its four landfalls, Rolly is considered as the world's strongest storm for 2020.