SUPERTYPHOON Lawin (international code name Haima) battered Northern Luzon with strong rains and powerful winds overnight on Wednesday, killing at least four people, triggering flooding and landslides, and shutting down major highways due to toppled trees and strewn debris. By daytime, residents of the Cagayan Valley and Ilocos regions could not figure out what hit them as the typhoon, which made landfall at Penablanca, Cagayan, brought widespread destruction, including collapsed houses and downed power and telecommunication lines.
“As of the moment, our compatriots in the Cordillera region, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur and La Union were experiencing powerful winds and continued rains,” NDRRMC Spokesman Romina Marasigan said, giving a general but initial picture of Lawin’s destruction during a news conference on Thursday.
“Based on reports we are getting, we have a problem on cellular phone signals. We also have a problem on the supply of power, although in the provinces of Cagayan and Isabela, it is a part of preventive shutdown. We already recorded power lines toppled by big trees,” she added.
Marasigan said “it would take some time in order to restore damaged power lines in these areas.”
The NDRRMC said it was still confirming reports of casualties from the powerful typhoon although initial reports coming from Benguet and Isabela said four people—two construction workers, a 70-year-old man and a militiaman—died at the height of the typhoon.
Shortly after it made landfall in Cagayan before midnight on Wednesday, the supertyphoon drew strong winds toward Ilocos Norte, pummeling and affecting Isabela and those provinces in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), blowing away houses and tearing the rooftops of buildings.
“Lawin,” which weather forecasters said should leave the country via Ilocos Norte on Thursday night, also cut down trees and generated flooding and landslides, shutting down key highways in the Cordilleras and in Ilocos Sur.
At least three towns in Isabela and other parts of Cagayan were also isolated.
The NDRRMC said Lawin initially affected at least 60,000 families in 118 barangays in the Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, and in the CAR.
Efforts to bring supplies and even reach some of the affected areas were hampered by the roads and bridges isolated by fallen trees and landslides. Shutdown telecommunication lines also frustrated efforts by disaster officials to get developments directly from the ground.
“The problem over power in the Cordilleras is region wide. They also have problems in communication, especially in the provinces of Apayao, Abra and Kalinga. The Chico River and Abra River are already in critical levels and waters might rise in these rivers,” Marasigan said.
“A lot of road networks in the Cordillera region were recorded with roadblocks because of landslides, debris flow and road slips. Our coordination with the Department of Public Works and Highways is continuing so that they could preposition heavy equipment,” Marasigan said.
She said the NDRRMC was set to conduct road reconnaissance in order for it to have an initial assessment of Lawin’s damage while the Philippine Air Force would conduct aerial assessment as soon as the weather permits.
Meanwhile, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said his agency, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP), and the National Electrification Administration (NEA) are “on top of the situation” to immediately restore power in areas affected by Typhoons Lawin and Karen.
Cusi directed concerned agencies to closely monitor the status of affected areas and to effect the immediate restoration of all energy facilities.
Also, the facilities of the two largest telecommunications companies in the Philippines sustained minimal damage on Thursday from Typhoon Lawin’s strong winds.
Multiple fiber cuts – around 10 percent of Globe Telecom Inc.’s total network in Northern Luzon – resulted in voice, call and data-service disruptions in selected areas in Abra, Cagayan, Kalinga, portions of Ilocos Norte and Apayao.
“Customers in the areas will temporarily experience difficulty in accessing communications services,” Globe Spokesperson Yolanda C. Crisanto said in a phone interview. “Network redundancies were activated to alleviate the impact of service disruptions to customers.”