Tisoy spares Bicol from severe wrath

Typhoon “Tisoy”(international name “Kamuri”) virtually spared much of the Bicol Region from its more severe wrath after gradually negotiating a south –west direction late in the evening of Monday, December 2, 2019.

Earlier detected by weather specialists to be taking a north-west direction, there by threatening to hit Catanduanes province for its landfall, and then proceed towards the direction of Caramoan Peninsula in Camarines Sur (forecast to hit Caramoan, Garchitorena, Lagonoy, Tinambac and Siruma), Tisoy reduced its speed from about 20 kilometers per hour down to 15 kilometers per hour. As it veered southward.

In updates provided by weather specialists from PAGASA, as well as Michael Padua of Weather Philippines, blow by blow accounts were provided to the local broadcast entities. Practically all of them gave uniform accounts that Tisoy was moving southwest, instead of northwest. Thefrequent direction of typhoons in the country.

As weathermen kept on feeding the public of a typhoon with a diameter of 800 kilometers, Bicolanos felt the urgent necessity to form prayer brigades seeking divine providence. Recitals of “Oratio Imperata”,led by Archbidhop Rolando Tria Tirona of Caceres repeated playing of Resuene Vibrante El Himno de Amor ( (Himno a La Virgen de Penafrancia) over most of the radio stations, became more constant.

In the afternoon and evening, of Monday, notices supplied by the National DEisaster and Risk Reduction Council kept on releasing notices of potential storm surges threatening some coastal towns of the region,as well as Quezon province.

But as Tisoy inched westward, none of feared storm surges took place,.As day light of Tuesday came, no storm surge came., even as the velocity of the storm rose up to more than 200kilometers per hour. Floods also affected some towns but they receded at a faster pace.

As of presstime. Practically all of the evacuees in the six provinces have already gone home.

P667-M damages

In less than 24 hours, Typhoon Tisoy posts P667,331,940 damages in the Bicol Region.

According to the Office of Civil Defence (OCD) Regional Director Claudio Yucot, the biggest loss came from the coconut industry. The damage incurred was about P489,644,400.

In addition, there was a total of 1,200 hectares of rice that got destroyed. This was worth an estimated P72 million in losses.

Also, there were some 1,200 hectares of fruit trees worth P36 million that were affected. Adding to this, 800 hectares of banana worth P16 million were also destroyed by the typhoon.

According to an article from Manila Bulletin, there were also losses from cacao plants worth P14.76 million. There were also P9.7 million worth of root crops damagedd; and P2.8 million from vegetables and corn.

Meanwhile, the fisheries sector lost at least P13 million from the destruction of fish ponds. Some 20 fishing boats were also ravaged by the typhoon.

Typhoon Tisoy also claimed at least 11 people. However, Mark Timbal of the NDRRMC said that they have yet to verify this information.

Based on police reports from local government officials, the five casualties were from Bicol, another five in Mimaropa, one from Eastern Visayas, while three persons were injured due to debris from falling houses.

There were reports 360,000 to 506,130 residents who have been displaced. In addition, there were at least 6,710 houses damaged by the Typhoon.

Because of the onslaught of the Typhoon, both the city government of Naga and the provincial government of Sorsogon declared a state of calamity. PNA