NDRRMC: Death toll due to Christmas floods rises to 13

MANILA — The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) on Tuesday reported that the death toll from the Christmas day floods that inundated the southern and eastern regions of the Philippines increased to 13.

Fatalities were reported in Northern Mindanao (7), Bicol region (3), Eastern Visayas (2), and Zamboanga Peninsula (1), the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said in its latest bulletin.

The heavy rains dumped by the shear line also left six people injured and 23 others missing.

State weather bureau PAGASA said the shear line—the weather system formed when the cold and warm winds converge—will continue to bring rains to Palawan, Visayas, and Mindanao.

The NDRRMC also reported that 44,282 families of 166,357 people in Mimaropa, Bicol region, Eastern Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao have been affected by the bad weather.

Of those, 10,536 households or 45,337 individuals sought temporary shelter in evacuation centers.

The estimated damage to infrastructure in Bicol region and Northern Mindanao has reached 14.58 million, while the cost of agricultural damage in the two regions was pegged at P59.82 million.

The NDRRMC said authorities have provided assistance amounting to P5.24 million to affected residents in Bicol region, Eastern Visayas and Zamboanga Peninsula.