In what can be considered a miracle considering super typhoon Pepito’s power, no one appears to have died or suffered an injury as a result of its hours-long rampage through the island province.
However, based on initial reports of local officials of towns where the howler’s track passed, considerable damage has been wrought on possible hundreds of homes made of light materials as well as semi-concrete structures and public infrastructure such as schools and multi-purpose buildings.
According to the PAGASA, the storm had sustained winds of 195 kph and gustiness of up to 325 kph when it made landfall in Panganiban town at 9:40 PM of Nov. 16, 2024.
In comparison, super typhoon Rolly, considered the most powerful storm to ever made landfall in recorded history anywhere in the world, with one-minute-average sustained winds of 315 kph at the time of landfall.
Whether the national weather agency’s measurement of Pepito’s highest wind gust was on an average of one minute will be confirmed if international weather agencies like the US Joint Typhoon Warning Center or the Japan Meteorological Agency issues a similar report.
Based on initial reports from local officials, nobody appears to have died during the typhoon’s onslaught although possibly hundreds of structures have been destroyed or damaged.
In contrast, six people died in Catanduanes during Rolly’s passage, all of them from drowning as a result of widespread flooding.
Pepito seems to have been a relatively dry storm vis-à-vis the 2020 super typhoon, as none of the 315 barangays of the island suffered water inundation except perhaps for coastal villages which were swamped by the storm surge.
But this should not take something away from the howler’s powerful winds, which could have wrought greater havoc had it sliced through the middle of the island as forecast by PAGASA six hours prior to landfall.
By going on a northwesterly direction for a few hours that afternoon, it saved the other half of the island from assured destruction.
Credit, and gratitude, should go to provincial and municipal officials, DRRMO personnel and those from other agencies and entities like the Philippine National Police, Philippine Coast Guard, Bureau of Fire Protection and Philippine Red Cross who helped implement forced evacuations of residents along danger zones and provided food and shelter for them.
The same goes for barangay officials who assisted their constituents and kindly neighbors who made their sturdy homes a refuge for their less fortunate brethren.
On the matter of its miraculous shift in Pepito’s direction that avoided a direct hit along the island’s center, perhaps no one will complain if Catanduanes’ deeply religious people attributes the fortunate development to divine intervention.
As early as two days before the super typhoon hit, the Diocese of Virac had already urged its parishioners to hold on to their faith and unite in prayer as they sought protection from the storm.
Now that the storm has passed, the hard work to restore damaged public services and facilities as well as the lives of affected residents begins.
Let us not allow the ugly face of partisan politics to manifest in the earnest desire of both the government and private sector to implement relief and rehabilitation works.