Fence collapses; 7 houses damaged

MANDAUE City Mayor Luigi Quisumbing speaks to residents of Sitio Murado Pilit in Barangay Cabancalan who were displaced when the fence of an adjoining subdivision collapsed amid heavy rain on Monday (PIO MANDAUE).

At least seven houses were damaged after a portion of the perimeter fence of the nearby North Town Homes in Sitio Murado Pilit in Barangay Cabancalan, Mandaue City collapsed at the height of a downpour past noon on Monday.

The downpour also flooded some areas in the cities of Cebu and Mandaue.

The subdivision’s collapsed pre-cast wall, which tumbled down along with mud and floodwater, destroyed the back portion of the house of Norma Ortega, 36, said Felix Suico Jr., head of the Mandaue City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office.

Fortunately, no one was reported injured during the incident, said a personnel from Mandaue City’s Command Center.

Six other nearby homes owned by Alwin Aliviado, Rosemarie Besto, Geraldine Dumdum, Ritchie Tabamo, Analyn Asusumo and Chona Galo were also damaged by the collapsed wall.

Mandaue City Mayor Luigi Quisumbing, who visited the area Monday afternoon to check on the affected families, instructed the personnel of the city’s Department of Social Welfare and Services to give out packed meals to the affected families, said Suico.

Personnel from the city’s Office of the Building Officials (OBO) also visited North Town Homes to speak to its management. The outcome of their discussion remains unknown as of this writing.

The wall collapse that was reported at 3:30 p.m. displaced at least 40 individuals who were made to spend the night in a nearby and newly finished apartment building that is still unoccupied.

Ortega said she was with her three children inside their home in Sitio Murado Pilit when the heavy downpour started about 1 p.m. on Monday.

Soon after, she said, she noticed a leaking pipe coming from a two-story house located inside the subdivision’s perimeter fence. The subdivision is located in an elevated area at the back of her house.

Ortega said soil then started to erode. A portion of the subdivision’s wall then started to collapse.

The water and mud coming from the subdivision also affected six other nearby houses.

Suico said the subdivision’s perimeter fence failed to hold the floodwater, causing it to collapse, with rainwater flowing through the damaged portion of the wall.

The heavy rainfall experienced yesterday in Metro Cebu also caused the water level to rise long A.S. Fortuna Street in Barangay Banilad, Cebu City; along the national highway in Barangay Tipolo, Mandaue City; and at M.L. Quezon Street in Barangay Cabangcalan, Mandaue City.

The knee-level flood water near the Cebu Rolling Hills Memorial Chapel in Barangay Banilad made it difficult for vehicles to pass by the area. The flood water subsided about an hour later.