(UPDATE 7 — 11:58 a.m.) MANILA, Philippines — Tropical Storm Urduja (Kai-Tak) inflicted havoc in Biliran days before Christmas, leaving 26 dead and 23 missing, including children, as it exited the island-province and made its sixth and last landfall in Taytay, Palawan Monday morning.
The number of casualties was confirmed by Biliran Governor Gerry Boy Espina in a radio interview based on data he received from the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council.
President Rodrigo Duterte is on his way to Biliran to personally check on the situation in the province, according to Malacañang. He will first visit Naval town where a press briefing with presidential spokesperson Harry Roque will be held.
Espina said most of the casualties were from areas hardest hit by Urduja, which included the towns of Naval, Caibiran, and Almeria where many houses had been built on mountain sides.
Urduja also toppled five bridges, cutting off access to many areas across Biliran, and triggered landslides that submerged schools and homes in mud and water, according to Espina.
The governor said Urduja was like a quick, bad dream as the weather in Biliran has now become calm and pleasant, as if nothing horrible happened, hours after the storm left the province.
“‘Yon nga po ang nakakalungkot, napakaganda ng panahon ngayon. ‘Yon lang pong dagsa ng ulan noong araw ng bagyo ang talagang nagpahirap sa amin,” Espina said Monday.
He said Urduja worsened flooding, unleashing landslides in Biliran, which was already experiencing heavy rains three days before the storm made landfall in the province on Saturday, December 16.
“Kasi po three days before dumating ang bagyo, malakas na ang ulan dito sa amin…Kaya pagpasok ng Sabado, lalo na,” he said.
“‘Yon mga tubig po galing sa bundok, ‘yon po ang sumira sa mga tulay namin [The water that came from the mountains destroyed our bridges],” Espina added.
Urduja weakens, heads to Palawan
At 3 a.m., Monday, the center of Urduja, which had weakened into a tropical depression, was estimated 70 kilometers west-southwest of Cuyo, Palawan, with maximum wind of 55 km per hour near the center and gustiness of up to 75 km/hr, the state-run Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said.
It is forecast to move west at 18 km/hr as a tail end of a cold front affects the eastern section of Southern Luzon and leave the country Tuesday morning amid another tropical depression that was seen outside the Philippine Area of Responsibility 1,650 km east of Mindanao as of 4 a.m., Monday, which has weakened into a low pressure area.
In another advisory issued 5 a.m., Monday, Pagasa said Calabarzon would experience cloudy skies with scattered light to moderate rains and thunderstorms.
Metro Manila will have cloudy skies with scattered rains as moderate to strong winds come from the northeast and coastal waters become moderate to rough.
In a press briefing before Monday noon, the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council said that besides the 26 fatalities, there were a total of 46 persons who went missing, following the devastation caused by the storm.
It said a total of 44,369 families were affected by Urduja in Bicol, Visayas, and Mimaropa, who were evacuated to 280 temporary shelters.
WATCH THIS VIDEO FROM THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ASSISTANT FOR THE VISAYAS ON THE DEVASTATION CAUSED BY URDUJA IN BILIRAN: