Isabela under calamity due to typhoon damage

BY JOAN CAPUNA

ILAGAN, Isabela – Still reeling from effects of the recent drought, this major rice and corn-producing province is again under a state of calamity due to agricultural losses and damage wreaked by typhoon “Kabayan,” which battered Cagayan Valley and the rest of Northern Luzon last week.

Gov. Grace Padaca declared on Nov. 7 the state of calamity in the entire province after the provincial board headed by Vice Gov. Ramon Reyes passed a resolution on the matter. Earlier, the towns of San Mateo and Ilagan made such declarations.

Isabela, the country’s third largest province, apparently bore the brunt of Kabayan’s fury, with five fatalities and one missing and 3,341 families or 10,934 residents displaced in nearly all 35 towns and two cities.

Based on initial damage assessment, the province lost more than P100 million in rice and corn crops, apart from damage on power, irrigation and other infrastructure.