Afternoon rain causes floods in Mandaue City

People walk on the streets of AS Fortuna as vehicles are stranded due to flooding (PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY BILL VERCIDE)

MANDAUE CITY, Cebu—The Mandaue City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) personnel are now on standby for floods following heavy rains on Friday afternoon triggered by the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ).

Felix Suico, CDRMMO officer, said they deployed their personnel to the different areas that had been identified as flood-prone.

These were Barangays Banilad, Cabangcalan, and Subangdaku.

Heavy rains already triggered floods on A.S. Fortuna Street in Mandaue City, rendering it impassable.

“Flood waters already reached waist-deep near LH Prime and Cebu Rolling Hills Memorial Chapel. The vehicles going to A.S. Fortuna were diverted to Sacris Road,” said Glen Antigua, Traffic Enforcement Agency of Mandaue (TEAM) chief of operations.

According to Manny John Agbay, weather specialist from Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) based on Mactan Island, Cebu, said the ITCZ in Mindanao area affected the Visayas.

“Rain is expected in the coming days,” Agbay said.

There was no major weather disturbance in the country although two to four typhoons were expected to enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) in August.

The average amount of rainfall for August was 148.2 millimeters.

Rains and thunderstorm would persisit for an hour to two on Friday afternoon, affecting the cities of Cebu, Talisay, Mandaue, Danao and Lapu-Lapu and the towns of Consolacion, Lilo-an, Compostela, Carmen and Cordova