The death toll arising from the wrath of typhoon “Cosme” has risen to 20.

According to the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council (PDCC), nine more fatalities were added to the 11 victims previously reported.

PDCC Executive Officer Paterno Orduna identified them as Francisco Cuanan, 38, and Jesus Caric,45, who drowned, both from Infanta; Rogelio Austria, Jose de Guzman and Pacita

Aquino, all from San Carlos City, Mario Quinto of Urdaneta, Pablo Cruz Sr., 58,  Pepe Molano, 63; and Cristituto Fernandez, 68, all from Mastalava, Lingayen.

The previous list included Lourdes Castro, 72, of Poblacion, Bugallon; Cesario Basi, 50, of Portic, Bugallon; Remedios Paulo, 72, of Bolaoen, Bugallon; Nicadio Ferrer, 65, of Lingayen; Luigi Rosario , 20, of Poblacion, Lingayen; Miguel Poserio, 2, his brother Randyl, 3; and Rodyl, 4, all of sitio Catacdang, Bonuan Gueset, Dagupan City.

As of Tuesday, 4,967 houses in Lingayen, Bugallon, Laoac, Manaoag, San Manuel, Binalonan, Tayug and Dagupan City were reported as totally destroyed and 9,551 others partially destroyed.

Not included in the list is the number of houses destroyed in the town of Infanta where 90 per cent of all houses were reported to have been heavily damaged.

Orduna noted that reports of casualties, including situation reports from towns and cities only come in trickles owing to poor communications.

Most telephone lines around the province have been cut off and cellular phones could not be used in the absence of electricity to recharge the batteries.

Orduna recently met with town and city mayors and impressed upon them the importance and urgency of their situation reports to enable the council to plan effectively for the conduct of relief operations.

Orduna said that aggravating the situation was the occurrence of flash floods in Urdaneta City, Sta. Barbara, Calasiao, part of Dagupan City, Malasiqui, Bayambang and Bugallon. -LM

Partial restoration of power
in Dagupan this week

The light at the end of the tunnel may finally be visible at least in Dagupan on Thursday.

This was the projection of Dagupan Electric Corporation (Decorp) that has been doing a round-the-clock restoration work on the badly damaged power facility in the city.

Decorp’s operations officer Augusto Sarmiento was quick to clarify, however, that if electricity is restored by Thursday, only a limited area in the city could be energized.

Tagged as priority to be energized is the downtown area of Dagupan where the central business district and some hospitals are located.

The assessment as of yesterday is that electricity in the city will only be fully restored in Dagupan in 30-60 days, and this would depend largely on the supply that can be provided by the

National Transmission Commission (Transco).

Decorp’s 51 primary cables in all its service areas have been damaged while secondary lines located in Dagupan, Calasiao, Sta. Barbara, San Fabian, San Jacinto, Manaoag and parts of San Carlos City and Binmaley need repairs as well.

Transco’s sub-grid in San Manuel town located in eastern Pangasinan is the only source available to Decorp since the Transco substation in Labrador town is still unable to supply.

Some 60 transmission towers of TransCo in western Pangasinan were reportedly heavily damaged.

Sarmiento said TransCo is also busy rehabilitating its damaged facilities in western Pangasinan.

Sarmiento said the power firm is also getting assistance from other electric companies outside Pangasinan to hasten the restoration.

So far, teams from the Tarlac Electric Cooperative (Tarelco) and Angeles City Electric Cooperative have already arrived.

Teams from the Cabanatuan Electric Cooperative and Manila Electric Company are also expected to augment the repair teams.

Other electric companies in Pangasinan also severely affected by the typhoon are the Pangasinan Electric Cooperative I and the Central Pangasinan Electric Cooperative.

At the same time, Sarmiento appealed to barangay captains to help secure fallen lines of Decorp after several cables were reported stolen in the aftermath.

Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez of Dagupan City said the police arrested a scrap iron dealer and will be charged for violation of anti-fencing law after lawmen found stolen cables. #

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