Cagayan logs P1.4B damages in agriculture due to series of typhoons that hit the province

Cagayan, Philippines – Storms have successively ravaged the Philippines since the end of September this year, with four of them battering the country one after the other in November.

Among the badly-hit areas since Typhoon Julian struck on September 29 to Super Typhoon Pepito on November 16 is the Province of Cagayan. It was placed under a state calamity since Julian after houses, livestock, and infrastructures were submerged in flood and were destroyed by strong winds.

The devastation did not stop there as the succeeding typhoons also affected the province.

On November 15, Governor Manual Mamba through the Cagayan Provincial Information Office revealed that P1.4 billion damages in agriculture were left by typhoons Julian, Kristine, Leon, and Marce.

The four storms likewise totally destroyed 1,900 houses and partially damaged 29,000 residences.

The destructions left by the other typhoons after Marce – Nika, Ofel, and Pepito which also severely affected Cagayan were not yet accounted for in the said data.

With the aftermath of the successive weather disturbances, Mamba informed that the provincial government is running out of Quick Response Fund.

“We are running out of QRF kasi noong bagyong Julian pa ay nag-declare na po kami ng state of calamity. Sunod-sunod naman yung tama sa amin katulad ng Marce na parang super typhoon category ‘yun,” he was quoted saying.

Mamba added that among their concerns are the challenges facing the people in the next three months because most farmers don’t have anything left to harvest.

While the government is continuously distributing financial assistance, seeds, and cash for work, the governor said these are just “stopgap”. He then appealed to the private sector to extend assistance to the people in need and help them recover from the devastation, especially that their livelihood was destroyed.