Manila: Tropical Storm Aere left northern Luzon on Wednesday, but not before battering the Bicol region and leaving at least 26 people dead, a disaster official told Gulf News.
Most of the newly listed fatalities came from central Philippines and Metro Manila, not in central Luzon which Aure drenched and hit with rough winds from Monday to Tuesday, said Ronald Flores, acting officer in charge of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).
The latest tally showed that Aere affected 71,267 families or 376,888 people in 464 villages, 65 municipalities, five cities, and 12 provinces in six regions nationwide, said Floers.
Displaced were 13,721 families or 68,813 people, but only 2,913 families or 14,566 people were placed in 86 government-run evacuation centres, said Flores, adding that the rest stayed with relatives in areas not affected by Aure.
Also affected were some 2,236 farmers; 7,243 hectares of rice, corn, and livestock. Total loss in agricultural products rose to P117.8 million (Dh9.8 million), said Flores.
Aure weakened as it went out to southern Japan, the government-run weather bureau said.
It was the second storm to hit the Philippines this summer. The country is visited by more than 20 destructive storms every year.
