DPWH reports P39-M in damaged infrastructure

All told, the two weather disturbances that struck Catanduanes within a week caused a total of P39-million in damages to national roads and bridges and other public infrastructures, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) reported last weekend.

According to the report sent by DPWH Catanduanes Engineering District chief Mariano S. Saret, typhoon Seniang's fury in slamming into this island province last November 1-2 resulted in damages costing P14,723,000. This is in addition to the P24,578,000 in damages wrought by tropical storm Reming last October 27-28.

Although it skirted the southern part of the island, Reming's passage caused P22,878,000 in estimated damage to national roads and bridges; P300,000 to school buildings; P600,000 to flood control and drainage structures; and, another P800,000 to shore protection works or seawalls.

In particular, the Catanduanes Circumferential Road sustained the heaviest toll at an estimated restoration cost of P11,081,000 due to washed-out road surfacings, bridge approaches, slip embankments, a washed-out span of Pagsangahan concrete detour bridge, and the removal of 14 major landslides along the San Miguel-Viga national road and two minor slides along the Virac-San Andres route.

The Panganiban-Supang national secondary road, with eight minor landslides, sustained P2,517,000 in total damages while the Bato-Baras national secondary road's repair will cost P780,000. On the other hand, the newly-converted Baras-Gigmoto-Viga national secondary road sustained a total P8,500,000 in damages due to Reming.

The report also said that one school building was unroofed and sustained damage to part of doors and windows. On the other hand, the repair of the San Vicente flood control structure in Virac will cost P600,000 while the rampaging heavy seas whipped up by Reming's 100 kilometer-per-hour winds damaged seawalls in Virac and Gigmoto that would need P400,000 each to restore.

Typhoon Seniang, which sliced through the northern tip of Catanduanes at noon of November 2, caused an additional P9,065,000 in damages to the Catanduanes Circumferential Road; P2,108,000 to the Panganiban-Supang national secondary road;, P1,050,000 to the Bato-Baras national secondary road; and, P2,500,000 to the Baras-Gigmoto-Viga road.

Sources at the DPWH say the only bottlenecks remaining are the river crossing along the national road to Pandan which have remained flooded up to the weekend. However, two are now passable, with a payloader already dispatched to the Minabobo crossing in Caramoran.

The Pagsangahan deck girder detour bridge, which lost a span during Reming's passage, was already passable as of All Saints Day although it sustained erosion on its Virac approach in the following typhoon, DPWH maintenance engineers said.