The Department of Public Works and Highways also issued a separate statement, which noted Agaton left ₱1.45 billion damage to infrastructure.
Eastern Visayas alone reported partial cost of damage to national roads and bridges of ₱1.3 billion, DPWH Secretary Roger Mercado said, citing latest information from the Bureau of Maintenance.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 20) — The death toll in the aftermath of Tropical Depression Agaton has climbed to 178, the disaster management agency said Wednesday.
In its latest report, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said only 18 fatalities have been confirmed so far.
The remaining 160 reported deaths, meanwhile, are still subject to validation by the NDRRMC and the Department of the Interior and Local Government.
In hardest-hit Eastern Visayas, the NDRRMC listed 156 dead, with only one death validated. The council, whose count is usually slower than that of local authorities, did not provide a breakdown by provice.
In Leyte province, local disaster response officials reported on Tuesday that 174 bodies have been recovered in Baybay City and Abuyog town alone.
The NDRRMC also said 111 people were reported missing, while eight were injured.
More than two million individuals, or some 600,000 families, have been affected so far after Agaton ravaged parts of the Visayas and Mindanao earlier this month.
It also left a total of 11,279 damaged houses in Bicol Region, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Northen Mindanao, Davao Region, and SOCCSKSARGEN.
Damage to the agriculture sector, meanwhile, has reached ₱257 million, the NDRRMC said.
In a separate statement Wednesday, the Department of Agriculture (DA) reported that the damage to agriculture has now ballooned to ₱2.3 billion.
The DA said the damage and losses in the sector were reported in Bicol Region, Western Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, Davao Region, Soccsksargen, and Caraga.
Over 54,000 farmers and fishers are affected, with the volume of production loss at 70,064 metric tons (MT) and 25,632 hectares of agricultural areas.
The deadly typhoon hit commodities such as rice, corn, high-value crops, livestock, and fisheries, the agency said.
The sector’s infrastructure also suffered damage.
CNN Philippines’ Leyte-based correspondent Wilmark Amazona contributed to this report
As for Soccsksargen and Caraga, damage to national roads reached ₱6.06 million and ₱118.4 million, respectively.
DPWH has cleared and reopened 47 out of the 50 affected roads in the regions of Western Visayas, Central Visayas, and Eastern Visayas, Mercado said. The department’s Quick Response Teams are still clearing three remaining closed national road sections in Leyte and Southern Leyte, he added.
The department aims to reopen roads affected by landslides before the end of April 2022.
