MANILA — A drought in the Philippines caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon has destroyed millions of dollars worth of crops, reduced the country’s water supply and is threatening widespread blackouts as power companies contend with low water levels in hydroelectric dams, officials said Friday.
“It is such a difficult situation because we have just survived the typhoons in October that destroyed 1.5 million metric tons of rice and countless basic infrastructure,” Joel Rudinas, an undersecretary at the Department of Agriculture, said in an interview Friday. “We are bracing for the worst.” Continue reading
