Debris are left at the corner of the road, a scene left from last Sunday’s flash flood in Carmen town in northern Cebu.
CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO
Cebu official says Crising was downgraded to LPA, so no state of calamity was declared
This year’s Easter Sunday, despite its message of birth and renewal, had taken on a tragic turn in the island of Cebu as 10 lost their lives as a result of the incessant rain that battered the area overnight.
Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) spokesperson Julius Regner confirmed to Cebu Daily News that a fisherman from the southern town of Alcoy had also perished due to Tropical Depression Crising. His body was found a day after setting sail on Saturday afternoon.
PO3 Emilio Carungay of the Alcoy Police Station said that Eutiquio Cano, 70, was found floating off the waters of Barangay Pugalo by his neighbor.
Carungay said that Cano was believed to have gone out to sea to catch fish and small crabs at the height of Crising.
Carungay said it rained on the town, but it was not as heavy as that of Carmen town.
However, Carungay said that Cano had reportedly drunk liquor before going out to sea to fish.
In the northern town of Carmen, eight residents died after being swept away by surging waters that slammed into their homes at dawn on Easter Sunday while a woman was also swept away by a flash flood that occurred in the neighboring Danao City.
Rodger Suico, Carmen’s local disaster officer, said that all of the casualties from their town lived at least 20 meters away from the riverbank.
However, Suico explained that no preemptive evacuation was conducted because tropical depression Crising was downgraded to a low pressure area (LPA).
“Gi-monitor nato diri sa Pagasa, nag-issue na sila na from tropical depression, gi-downgrade na nila into a low pressure area,” he said. “Ang SOP nato diri, once nga mu-rate na ug signal number 1 ang atong Pagasa, mu-evacuate dayon ta. Naa ta’y procedure nga mu-evacuate dayon, forced evacuation dayon after rating sa signal.”
Suico said that heavy rains only started on Sunday dawn, which prompted 670 residents to evacuate to their respective barangay’s evacuation site on Sunday but have already started going back to their homes by Monday.
Suico added that crops have also been destroyed in their area, which they are in the process of assessing the extent of the damage while three barangays, including Triumfu, Ipil and Hagnaya, were initially inaccessible but are passable now after the provincial government sent heavy equipment necessary for the clearing operations.
Assistance
Regner said that the provincial government has extended a financial assistance of P10,000 to the families of the casualties for each member who perished during the typhoon, in addition to the burial assistance likewise amounting to P10,000.
Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale also said that she had instructed the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO) to extend to the family of the casualties a sack of rice as well as several canned goods.
According to Regner, they also have food packs that contain rice and canned goods ready to be distributed on Tuesday to the families affected by Crising after they have consolidated their data.
Regner said that they have around 800 food packs on hand, which will be given to the families affected by the flooding, including 284 food packs meant for Carmen, 24 food packs for Danao City and around 200 for Consolacion.
Meanwhile, Provincial Board Member Miguel Antonio Magpale of the 5th District said that the Office of the Vice President Leni Robredo had contacted him around noon on Monday to request for their available data as to the victims affected by Crising as they would also be sending assistance.
“Before lunch, we received a call from the staff of Vice President Leni Robredo,” he said.
“She was asking if we could share the data that we have because their office is willing to extend any form of assistance that we can give to our constituents, particularly building materials, food, clothing and baka financial if possible but they need to have yung data and we’re still, even right now, coordinating with the local government units,” Board Member Magpale said.
No State of Calamity
Contrary to reports, Regner clarified that no state of calamity has yet been declared in the municipality of Carmen but that the local government unit (LGU) had only activated their local disaster risk reduction and management council in light of what happened.
“(Naa man gyud ng additional funds na ma-tap) but mas nindot man gud ng naa’y mu-chair sa nagkadaiyang committee or subcommittees,” he said.
“Ang importante karon, this is the first nga nag-meeting gyud sila, naa’y council meeting kay karon pa man gyud na-create ang ilang council,” he said.
Regner explained that no state of calamity among LGUs will be declared as of yet pending the assessment made by the Cebu Provincial Rapid Assessment Team (CPRAT) of the PDRRMO.
Unexpected
Vice Governor Magpale said that it was the first time that she had seen the rivers in their area swell to such an extent that it would it take as many as nine casualties.
A resident of Danao City, the elder Magpale said that she personally saw how the waters had surged even beyond their usual paths and overflow to surrounding areas, hitting farms and rice paddies.
Magpale said that she is still waiting for the assessment report but stressed that the provincial government will take it from there to see what they can do to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.
“We will wait for the assessment and we will do something about that,” she said. “Every calamity, duna ta’y learning.”
According to the vice governor, the PDRRMO had not been remiss in reminding the public to take the necessary precautions as well as to call for evacuation when needed but the extent of what happened was unexpected especially since the tropical depression had been downgraded and the rain that followed was not that heavy, albeit nonstop.
Magpale said that she is also looking into coordinating with the PDRRMO to make the public aware as to how to predict and what to watch out for in case of a “buhawi” after several unverified reports about it had cropped up.
As of writing, Regner said that they are still verifying the information about reported “buhawi.”