9 dead in Cebu floods

CEBU, Philippines - At least nine people died and 73 houses in Cebu were washed out due to heavy rains and floods brought by Tropical Depression Crising, disaster officials said yesterday.

Hundreds of families fled to safer ground due to massive flooding in southern and northern Cebu.

The fatalities mostly come from the northern Carmen town whose river overflowed from the nonstop rains since Saturday night.

The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) identified the fatalities in Carmen, Cebu as Rowena Sencio, 38, and her children Jade, 13, and Ivan, 11; and Arsenia Laping, 58, and her grandson Vience Ian Durano, 2; Yanina Isabel Hermocilla, 6; Niculas Pongaotan, 76.

The body of an unidentified person was also found in Carmen. Virginia Manolat, 70, was the lone fatality in Danao City.

Julius Regner, PDRRMO spokesperson, said the Sencios, Laping and Durano drowned after floodwaters washed their homes away in Carmen town, while Pongaotan was electrocuted as he waded through floodwaters in Sitio Sun-oc in Barangay Fuente in the same town.

Regner said the bodies of the Sencios were found floating in the coastal barangay of Dawis Sur, Carmen, roughly two kilometers from their house in Sitio Duwalog.

Regner said Manolat drowned after rampaging floodwaters swept her away at the height of the rains. Manolat was standing in the rising floodwaters and lost her footing.

At least 73 homes in barangays Poblacion, Fuente, Dawis, Luyang, and Duwalog in Carmen were washed away by strong floodwaters.

Floodwaters in portions of Carmen rose six feet in just a few hours of rain and left piles of wreckage.

Residents of Carmen also said that a “buhawi” or waterspout hit their area at dawn, causing strong winds and heavy rainfall. Regner said the PDRRMO is still verifying the reports.

Hundreds of families have evacuated to safer ground due to massive flooding in southern and northern Cebu.

The affected areas are eight barangays of Cabancalan, Tipolo, Banilad, Paknaan, Mantuyong, Labogon, Tingub and Basak, according to Felix Suico, head of the Mandaue City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO).

Suico said 165 of the 300 individuals evacuated returned to their homes yesterday after floodwaters subsided.

There were no reports of injuries or casualties in Mandaue.

Suico also said a concrete wall in Barangay Basak collapsed and a backhoe used for dredging in Barangay Guizo-Mantuyog river was swept away by raging floodwaters.

In Cebu City, at least 19 barangays were flooded, including the urban barangays of Kasambagan and Mabolo.

Reports reaching the CDRRM office said that knee-deep floodwaters inundated these barangays starting 10 p.m. Saturday. Floodwaters subsided yesterday morning.

Expect more rains

While Tropical Depression Crising has weakened into a low-pressure area, it will continue to bring rains in some parts of the country today, the weather bureau said.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) yesterday said cloudy skies with moderate to occasionally heavy rains and thunderstorms may trigger flashfloods and landslides in northern Cebu, northern Negros Island, Capiz, Aklan, Romblon, Masbate and Mindoro.

Cloudy skies with light to moderate rains and isolated thunderstorms will prevail over Metro Manila, rest of Visayas, Bicol region, Mimaropa, Calabarzon and Bataan.

Partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rain showers or thunderstorms will be experienced over the rest of the country.

PAGASA said the low-pressure area was not expected to dissipate within the next 24 hours.

As of 4 p.m. yesterday, it was spotted in the vicinity of Roxas, Oriental Mindoro.

No new weather disturbance is forecast to affect the country in the next three days.

PAGASA said the coastal waters of Luzon and Visayas would be moderate to rough. The rest of the country will have slight to moderate seas.

– Helen Flores, The Freeman