‘Pepito’ leaves path of destruction across Luzon

Super Typhoon "Pepito," the second consecutive super typhoon to hit the country, left a trail of destruction over the weekend.

In Aurora, where Pepito made its second landfall on Sunday afternoon, several roads across the coastal province remain impassable due to overflowing riverbanks, fallen debris, and landslides.

Based on the situational report by the local government of Aurora, a total of 6,903 families, or 20,298 individuals, have evacuated across the municipalities of Baler, Casiguran, Dilasag, Dingalan, Dinalungan, Dipaculao, Maria Aurora, and San Luis.

A segment of the Baler-Casiguran road in the town of Dinalungan is also impassable to all types of vehicles.

Telecommunication lines for both Smart and Globe remain unstable throughout the province.

A total of 910 houses were damaged, with 43 homes destroyed in the towns of Casiguran and Dilasag.

In the nearby province of Nueva Vizcaya, Barangay Captain Francisco Eugenio Bayatan of Bagabag shared photos online showing several cows that died in his area, likely due to drowning.

In the municipality of Ambaguio in Nueva Vizcaya, seven members of a family were found dead after being buried in a landslide on Sunday, 17 November.

According to the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council of Nueva Vizcaya, they were able to rescue three more individuals who are currently recovering in a hospital in Bayombong.

On Monday, Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Rex Gatchalian met with Catanduanes Governor Joseph Cua to personally assess the damages caused by ‘Pepito’ and to prepare disaster response operations for affected families.

Two days after the landfall, Cua said that there are still no recorded casualties in the island province.

“After the typhoon, until now, we checked with the MDR that there are still no casualties in the province,” Cua said in an interview with the Philippine News Agency.

November recap and outlook

Pepito was the strongest typhoon among the four typhoons that made landfall in Luzon this month.

Typhoon "Marce" made landfall in northern Cagayan on 7 November. Four days later, Typhoon "Nika" struck the northern part of Aurora. On 14 November, Super Typhoon "Ofel" hit northern Cagayan just three days before Pepito battered Bicol and Northern Luzon.

Ofel's peak strength was at 185 kilometers per hour, while Pepito’s strength was logged at 195 kilometers per hour.

According to PAGASA’s latest Tropical Cyclone Threat Potential, there is no possibility of a new storm forming from 18 to 24 November, while there is a low chance of tropical cyclone formation from 25 November to 1 December.

The state weather bureau also noted the possibility of at least two more cyclones in December.