A combination of low pressure area (LPA) and southwest monsoon or “habagat” has brought torrential rains in Metro Cebu and displaced more than 200 residents, the weather bureau in Mactan station said Thursday. Ann Dumdum, weather specialist at the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Service Administration (PAGASA), said the LPA trough spotted 395km east northeast of Batanes has brought heavy rainfall. Although the LPA has a great chance to dissipate within 24 to 48 hours, Dumdum said Cebuanos could still experience one to two-hour rainfall Thursday night. On Wednesday night up to Thursday morning, rescuers from the Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CCDRRMO) conducted evacuation operations using ‘commel vans’ and rescue vehicles for the residents of Sto. Niño Village in Barangay Banilad here, after their houses were flooded. Personnel from the Mandaue City DRRMO brought a rubber boat to rescue residents trapped inside their flooded houses. According to the report, about 200 residents in Banilad were rescued. Clifford Ian Cabanes, head of the CCDRRMO operations center, said they also sent a quick response team to Sitio B1 in Barangay Talamban to cordon off a community near a river after their houses were also flooded. ‘We advised the victims to evacuate from the area,’ he said. Also in Cebu City, a portion of Legazpi Street beside a construction site at the Roman Catholic-owned Patria de Cebu was closed to traffic after it collapsed on Wednesday. Councilor Gerry Guardo, Cebu City Council committee on infrastructure, said the city government is now undergoing repair to cover the collapsed portion of the road. ‘No casualties are reported but we need to close the road for traffic to prevent accidents from further happening,’ he said. Dumdum said the PAGASA-Mactan recorded 17 millimeters per liter of rainfall on Wednesday but said the past two days saw a higher rate of more than 20 millimeters per liter of rainfall. She said “habagat” will persist even in the last days of September or up to the middle of October, warning of more thunderstorms and heavy rainfall which may cause flooding and landslides in the hinterland.
Source: Philippines News Agency