32 dead, 8 million affected by 'Luis,' 'Maymay,' 'Neneng,' habagat — OCD

MANILA, Philippines — At least 32 people have died while around 8 million people have been affected by tropical cyclones Luis, Maymay and Neneng and the southwest monsoon or habagat, the Office of Civil Defense said Saturday, August 29.

In its latest situation report, the OCD said the weather disturbances have affected around 2.3 million families or 8 million individuals across the country.

Benguet recorded the highest number of fatalities at 15, all due to landslides.

The OCD also reported six deaths in Rizal, four in Batangas, two each in Occidental Mindoro and Caloocan, and one each in La Union, Quezon, Oriental Mindoro and Negros Occidental.

The reported deaths were due to drowning, landslides, rockslides, fallen trees and electrocution.

The disaster agency also recorded 19 injured individuals, while three people remain missing — one each from Quezon City, Manila and Batangas.

Meanwhile, at least 25,800 people remain in evacuation centers due to the effects of the weather disturbances.

Nearly 3,000 houses were damaged, including 349 that were totally destroyed.

Infrastructure damage has reached P6.11 billion, while agricultural damage was estimated at P2.32 billion, according to the OCD.

At least 117 local government units have declared a state of calamity.

The government has so far extended P1.65 billion worth of assistance to affected communities.

Rainfall warnings

Meanwhile, several areas in Luzon remained under rainfall warnings on Saturday afternoon as the southwest monsoon continued to bring heavy rains.

Metro Manila and several provinces were under a red rainfall warning, with PAGASA warning of serious flooding in flood-prone areas.

Under the red warning level were Zambales, Bataan, Pampanga, Tarlac, Bulacan, Metro Manila, Cavite, Rizal and parts of Batangas.

Other areas were placed under orange and yellow rainfall warnings, with flooding also threatening or possible in flood-prone areas.

LPA monitoring

As of 2 p.m. Saturday, PAGASA was monitoring two low pressure areas outside the Philippine Area of Responsibility.

One LPA had a low chance of developing into a tropical depression within the next 24 hours, while the other had a high chance of developing within the same period.