THE number of fatalities brought about by the destructive effects of Super Typhoon ‘Odette’ on Monday rose to 208 with 239 injured and 52 listed as missing as of press time, the Philippine National Police (PNP) headed by General Dionardo B. Carlos said.

As of 6 a.m., the PNP said that of the 208 dead, 129 were from Central Visayas; 24 from Western Visayas; six from Eastern Visayas; one from Western Mindanao; seven from Northern Mindanao; and 41 from Caraga region.

Many of the in Regions 6 and 7 died after being hit by fallen trees, struck by concrete debris including a collapsed firewall, or thru drowning. Three of the victims in Caraga region belong to the same family whose house were buried in a landslide triggered by continuous heavy rains.

The number of injured persons are broken down as follows: 103 in Region 7; 15 in Region 8; three in Region 10; and 118 in Region 13.

Listed as missing were 43 from Region 7; one from Region 8; and eight from Region 13.

At least 346 PNP personnel were among those affected by the killer typhoon, 25 of them from Mimaropa region; 162 from Western Visayas; 57 from Central Visayas; 48 from Eastern Visayas; one from Northern Mindanao; and five from Bangsamoro Autonomous Region.

Six PNP buildings in Western Visayas were also damaged as a result of strong winds and heavy rains triggered by the typhoon.

Gen. Carlos said that they have already restored their communications with PNP units in Visayas, Mindanao and Mimaropa regions despite massive outages of telecom services in 704 areas.

“The PNP communication lines and supply continue to be operational in all Police Regional Offices, ensuring effective command and control to supervise and direct post disaster relief and rehabilitation operations,” the top cop said in the heels of his aerial sorties and inspection in Central and Western Visayas on his way to link-up with President Duterte in Mindanao.

Gen. Carlos said both conventional and alternate communication systems remain operational to keep the PNP Command Group in touch with PNP Units thru the PNP Command Center.

“Lessons learned from the Yolanda experience taught us to continue to maintain conventional communication systems as back-up for modern digital telecommunications infrastructure,” he said.

The PNP Command Center reported that concerned police units conducted 163 operations which resulted in the safe rescue of 4,939 individuals.

As of press time, PNP units continue to provide assistance and security in 7,201 evacuation centers where 2,432 families comprising 100,353 individuals have sought temporary shelter, said the PNP chief.