Philippine tropical cyclones

Typhoon Odette death toll in Southern Leyte climbs to 21

Lance Lim

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Typhoon Odette death toll in Southern Leyte climbs to 21

AFTERMATH. Damage to structures in the coastal town of Silago in Southern Leyte.

Silago Vice Mayor Lemuel Honor

The Eastern Visayas Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council says 11 persons remain missing in Southern Leyte

The death toll in Southern Leyte following the onslaught of Typhoon Odette (Rai) climbed to at least 21, the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC) in Eastern Visayas said on Tuesday, December 21.  

The RDRRMC said Saint Bernard town has the most casualties, with seven, followed by San Juan with four.  Hinunangan, Liloan, and Sogod have two deaths each while Limasawa, San Ricardo, and Maasin City each reported one death.

The nongovernmental organization Leyte Center for Development earlier told Rappler that its quick reaction team learned that storm surges – some as high as 12 feet – hit barangays Hindag-an and Lepanto of Saint Bernard; barangays Tigbao and Oticon of Libagon; and two barangays of San Juan.

Eleven persons remain missing: nine in San Juan, and one each in Liloan and Saint Bernard.

More than 87,953 individuals from 37 barangays around the province were affected by Odette, with 107 houses destroyed and 973 partially damaged.

Silago Vice Mayor Lemuel Honor described the destruction as comparable to that of Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) in 2013.

‘It’s almost the same minus the death of any person due to preemptive and forced evacuation,” Honor said as he appealed for construction materials and road clearing equipment for his town.

As of writing, all roads are now passable except for the town of San Ricardo which is located at the southernmost tip of Leyte island, according to the Southern Leyte provincial government.

The Eastern Visayas RDRRMC has already deployed additional personnel and equipment to speed up road clearing operations.

Southern Leyte Governor Damian Mercado declared a state of calamity on Monday, December 20. 

Mercado directed provincial offices to execute rescue, relief, and rehabilitation work to augment efforts of various local government units. – Rappler.com

Lance Lim is a Visayas-based journalist and an awardee of the Aries Rufo Journalism Fellowship.

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