'Helen' leaves 7 dead in northern Luzon

Seven people died while three others were injured after tropical storm Helen battered northern Luzon, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

The NDRRMC also reported at press time that rescue teams were still searching for two persons who have been missing during the height of the storm.

In Tuba, Benguet, the bodies of two small-scale miners were dug up from a landslide that struck a gold-rush site at the boundary of Baguio City and Tuba last week.

The bodies of Elmer Domines, 42, and JonafePandosen, 61, were retrieved at around noontime. Supt. Engelbert Soriano, deputy director for operations of the Baguio police, said another miner, Marcos Kaysuen Banigen, 42, was earlier rescued at the landslide site. 

As he was being rushed to the Baguio General Hospital, Banigen told rescuers that two colleagues – Domines and Pandosen – were also buried.

The rescuers raced against time to save the two but only found their bodies, Soriano said.

In August 2009, 19 miners were killed during a landslide at the height of typhoon “Kiko.” 

In August 2011, another landslide killed three miners in the area.

The latest weather disturbance, which made landfall in Isabela Wednesday dawn, affected almost 20,000 families in 217 barangays in Regions 1, 2, and Cordillera Administrative Region, the NDRRMC added.

At press time, 3,106 families or 10,650 persons were staying in 77 evacuation centers.

La Union police conducted search-and-rescue operations in flood-submerged areas while “Helen” raged.   

With supervision of Ilocos police director Chief Supt. Franklin Bucayu,  police used rubber boats, pay loaders, “banka/balsa”, dump trucks in municipalities affected by heavy flood to rescue victims.

           

Rescuers included personnel from the 1^st Regional Public Safety Battalion, La Union Provincial  Public Safety Company, Philippine  Coastguard; Depat. Of Public Works and Highways, in coordination with dister and local officials.

               

Senior Supt Ramon Purugganan, La Union provincial police director led implementation of the operation.

           

Police later joined the officials in distribution of relief goods and provided security in evacuation centers while some conducted clearing operations along roads.

     

In other La Union towns, a total of 950 families or 3, 907 persons were affected and evacuated in the different evacuation centers.

              

No report of casualty due to the typhoon was reported but one resident of Lioac, Naguilian died due to electrocution.

               

Unlike in the Ilocos region and the rest of northern Luzon, agricultural damage in Cagayan Valley from typhoon “Helen” was practically nil, with almost no reported yield losses.

Dr. DaniloTumamao, Isabela provincial agriculture officer, said the country’s leading rice and corn-producing province was generally spared by the typhoon, with almost all the standing crops surviving it.

“We can say in a way that there were affected areas in the province if you are talking of damage in hectare, but definitely there has not been any yield loss so far,” he said.

Agricultural damage from Helen in Cagayan Valley were said to be similar to that of typhoon “Gener” which farmers even considered a blessing for bringing rain to their rice fields.

Earlier, Isabela officials expressed fear that Helen could leave multimillion-peso damage to palay and corn crops. – Mydz Supnad,Charlie Lagasca, George Trillo, Jennelyn Mondejar and AD