YEAREND REPORT: Onslaught of Supertyphoon "Gading" Pangasinan ....
Balita News
By: Leonardo V. Micua
DAGUPAN CITY, Jan.01(PNA)--The nightmare that was typhoon "Gading"
was chosen as the top story in Pangasinan in 1998 by all the newspapers
in the province.
The newspaper "Sunday Punch" chose typhoon "Gading" as its top
story in 1998 mainly because of its headline value and significance.
The Regional Examiner could not have chosen any story better
than the story on the supertyphoon. PNA Dagupan, in a pool among its
staff members and stringers, likewise picked typhoon "Gading" as the top
story of the year.
Typhoon "Gading" was not an ordinary typhoon that blew
Pangasinan off its feet in the early morning of September 19.
Although the Philippine Atmospheric Geo-physical Astronomical
Services Administration (PAGASA) downplayed its effect by raising only
typhoon signal number one over Pangasinan, many felt it had the effect
of typhoon signal no. 3 or 4.
Many were caught flat-footed as radio and television were
reporting at 9:00 p.m. of September 18 that PAGASA raised only signal
number one over Pangasinan.
Thinking it was only a low-signal typhoon, Rep. Benjamin Lim of
the fourth district of Pangasinan was still on the road at 11:00 p.m.,
visiting his constituents who may have been endangered by the typhoon.
He felt cold in his spine when billboards and trees beside the
road swung dangerously. He ordered his driver to pull over beside a
building to secure themselves from the typhoon.
Lim was the first congressman from Pangasinan to raise a howl
protest over the apparently bungled signal from PAGASA.
He wanted PAGASA to be roasted in the House for not having
accurately predicted the strength of the typhoon.
By l1:30 p.m. of September 18, lights went out in the whole of
Dagupan as wind from the south direction, including rains, intensified
further. By 12 midnight, "Gading" was already ravaging Pangasinan.
By 4:00, a.m., there was a temporary lull from the wind. Many
thought, that was the end of it. But a stronger wind from the north
started to blow.
Houses again cracked, trees uprooted, electric poles toppled
and electric wires snapped.
Residents said "Gading" was the strongest typhoon to hit
Pangasinan on memory as it left a havoc of destruction conservatively
estimated at more than three billion pesos, aside from killing at least
98 persons.
Less than six hours after the devastating winds of the howler,
came the flood that inundated nearly three-fourths of Dagupan City and
34 other towns of Pangasinan.
Other top stories of Pangasinan for 1998 are:
--Renewed proposal for the division of Pangasinan;
--Mangabul Fisheries controversy;
--Onslaught of dengue fever;
--Return of the illegal numbers game called "jueteng";
--Proposal for the establishment of gambling casino;
--Dagupan councilor shot dead during a campaign sortie;
--San Jacinto mayor unseated by court decision;
--Endorsement by the provincial board of the Agno cement plant;
--Cityhood of Urdaneta.(PNA) rgc /lam/lvm/rma
PNA 01011635