At least 279 houses in the city and province of Iloilo and in Antique were damaged due to storm surge brought by southwest monsoon or habagat enhanced by Typhoon “Fabian.”

Based on the consolidated report from the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC) 6 as of Saturday, July 24, a total of 55 houses were totally damaged while 224 were partially damaged.

Forty seven of the totally damaged houses are from Iloilo province while eight are from Iloilo City.

Data also showed that a total of 323 families composed of 481 individuals from 28 barangays in Western Visayas were affected.

The bad weather also caused damage to agriculture particularly in Antique’s Tobias Fornier town where P55,00 worth of farm crops were damaged.

According to RDRRMC-6, as of July 24, the city and provincial emergency operation centers were still on heightened alert.

All stakeholders, provincial and municipal disaster risk reduction and management offices (DRRMOs) and Response Clusters were directed to maintain a close monitoring and intensified coordination to ensure constant operational readiness and prompt response for the possible adverse effects of the bad weather.

Furthermore, the provincial and municipal DRRMOs are continuously monitoring the weather condition, conducting on-site risk assessment in critical areas and providing constant advisories and warning alerts to communities particularly in landslide, storm surge and flashfloods/flood prone areas. (Glenda Tayona)/WDJ