Nearly two hundred thousand tons of paddy rice (palay) have been destroyed by tropical depression "Ondoy" (international code name: "Ketsana") as heavy rains flooded farmlands in Luzon, the Philippines, according to the Philippine agriculture department on Tuesday.

An estimated 180,212 metric tons of palay, valued at 3.1 billion pesos (about 65 million U.S. dollars), were lost owing to floods and heavy rains that submerged 124,238 hectares of rice-growing areas, the Philippine agriculture department said.

Affected rice growing areas include the provinces of Laguna, Batangas Cavite, Rizal and Quezon in Southern Luzon; Cagayan Valley, Aurora and Bataan in northern Luzon; Aurora, Bataan; and Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac and Zambales in central Luzon.

The department also said that "Ondoy" destroyed 1,279 tons of corn and 1,571 tons of fruits and vegetables.

It also estimated that as of Tuesday, the value of all crops damaged reached 3.2 billion pesos (about 67.4 million U.S. dollars).

Source:Xinhua