Aklan estimates ‘Paeng’ damages at P100 million

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

The Aklan provincial government as of 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct 30, 2022 estimated that the damage caused by Severe Tropical Storm ‘Paeng’ (International name: ‘Nalgae’) amounted to P109.67 million over the three days that it ravaged the province.

Aklan Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) chief Galo Ibardolaza told Daily Guardian that estimates include P45.303 million in agricultural damages and P63.62 million in infrastructures.

The agricultural damage includes rice, corn, vegetables, and other high-value crops, as well as fisheries, small animals, and working animals across 14 towns.

Infrastructural damage reported from four towns include national, provincial, and barangay roads, as well as bridges and seawalls.

As of this writing, all national and local roads in Aklan are now passable, but some barangay roads were heavily affected.

A total of 43,202 families and 193,167 individuals were affected by the storm, and 1,452 houses were partially damaged while 148 were totally damaged.

Six persons died at the height of “Paeng” in Libacao and Batan towns. The deaths were attributed to landslides, drowning in flash floods, and electrocution.

Four persons were injured while one remains missing.

Ibardolaza noted that while Paeng brought strong winds and heavy rains to the province, it was still less intense than Typhoon Frank of 2008.

“In terms of typhoons, [Paeng] isn’t [the strongest], because we measure that by the strength of the winds. We were under Signal No. 2 in a short span of time and there was no severe devastation. Paeng is wide, so all clouds he can pull into his circulation brought rain to Panay. In terms of the flooding, Typhoon Frank would still be the worst,” he said.

He said that the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office will be conducting an assessment soon to figure out the cause of the flooding.

The Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Aklan on Friday, October 28, held a special session where they approved Governor Jose Enrique Miraflores’ request for a declaration of a state of calamity.

Ibardolaza was unable to disclose the exact figure as to how much is allocated for the ‘Paeng’ response, but he noted that because the national state of calamity for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was extended by the administration to December this year, they were already able to use some of the funds for the response to the storm.