TYPHOON “TISOY” SLIGHTLY INTENSIFIES WHILE HITTING NORTHERN SAMAR

Frequent to continuous heavy to intense rains are forecast over Bicol Region, Northern Samar, Southern Quezon, Marinduque, and Romblon. Frequent to continuous heavy rains over Samar, Eastern Samar, Rizal, rest of Quezon, Laguna, and Oriental Mindoro. Moderate to intermittent heavy rains over Metro Manila, Occidental Mindoro, rest of CALABARZON, Cagayan, Isabela, Aurora, and the rest of Eastern Visayas.

Moreover, “TISOY” is forecast to make landfall over Albay – Sorsogon area between 5:00 pm (December 2) and 11:00 am (December 3).

In preparation for Typhoon Tisoy, a total of 156,549 ha of rice areas and 2,309 ha of corn areas has been harvested early from Regions III, IV-A, IV-B, V and VIII during November 16 to 30, 2019.

As of 30 November 2019, the total areas at risk is 316,462 ha for rice and 31,622 ha for corn from the said regions.

Crop at reproductive and maturing stages are more vulnerable to typhoon damage. The rice areas under the reproductive stage is at 72,705 ha while the area under maturing stage is at 151,844 ha. While, the corn areas under the reproductive stage is at 3,854 ha while the area under maturing stage is at 4,369 ha.

In case of damages and losses in the agriculture and fishery sector, the Department of Agriculture has a standby fund amounting to ₱ 250 M under the Quick Response Fund (QRF) that can be utilized for rehabilitation of areas to be affected by Typhoon Tisoy. Seed reserve of 75,553 bags of rice seeds; 5,025 bags of corn seeds; and 322 kg of vegetable seeds from Region III, IV-A, IV-B, V, and VIII are also available for distribution to affected farmers. Moreover, the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC) also has ₱ 65M available funds under the Survival Recovery (SURE) Program. The Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC) has available funds to pay for the losses to be incurred and will fast track processing of crop insurances of farmers that will be affected by the typhoon.

The DA-DRRM Operations Center will continuously issue updates regarding Typhoon “Tisoy”. For inquiries, kindly call (02) 8929-0140