Floods destroy P2-M palay in Tarlac; dikes collapsing

TARLAC CITY — Typhoon "Chedeng" and the subsequent week-long torrential rains have destroyed nearly P2 million worth of palay in the province. Provincial officials are still assessing the damage to infrastructure.

In a report to Gov. Jose Yap Sr., provincial agriculture chief Bartolome Fajardo said most of the damaged crops were palay seedlings ready for planting in the regular cropping season.

The other spoiled palay was in the tillering, vegetative, reproductive and maturity stages, he said.

Meanwhile, retired Gen. Virgilio Florendo, head of the provincial disaster coordinating council (PDCC), informed Yap that his office has yet to make a final assessment of the infrastructure damage wreaked by the continuous rains and the flash floods.

Florendo said a final appraisal of the infrastructure losses could not yet be determined because waterways in the province were still overflowing.

Nonetheless, he reported that a more than 200 meter-portion of the Tarlac River’s protective dike in Barangay Sembrano in Gerona town has been washed away, while the rest of the concrete embankment continues to sustain more cracks.

Also in Gerona, Florendo said a 100-meter portion of the Tarlac River dike between Barangays Ayson and Malayep has similarly collapsed.

Because of this, Yap has ordered the provincial engineer’s office to haul five truckloads of sand for sandbagging operations in the three affected villages.

In Anao, the bridge linking Barangays Casili and Cinense has totally collapsed.

In La Paz town, 50 meters of the concrete dike securing the Mait Creek crumbled, also due to strong currents.

Florendo said the Rio Chico River, also in La Paz, which defines the boundary of Tarlac and Nueva Ecija, has remained swollen, rendering the Tarlac-Sta. Rosa route impassable to light vehicles.

Florendo said excess floodwaters coming from neighboring Pangasinan have been causing the severe flooding in Anao and La Paz, which is also a catchbasin of floodwaters coming from Nueva Ecija.

Meanwhile, the portion of the Tarlac River here continues to swell to a critical level, too, threatening the riverbank villages of Barangays San Isidro, Sta. Maria and Sinait.

The river is a major catchbasin of excess floodwaters cascading from the slopes of the Mt. Pinatubo and the Tarlac-Pampanga-Zambales mountain ranges.

In Mayantoc, some 150 families in upland Barangay Labney have remained isolated since Thursday afternoon after landslides cut off the lone dirt road leading to the village.