Tornado rips Metro Cebu; Scores hurt, properties damaged

A strong whirling wind lifted houses built of light materials, toppled posts, blew away roofs and uprooted trees all over Metro Cebu.

In Mandaue City, 37 houses,16 structures in Lapu-Lapu City, nine houses and three shops in Compostela were badly damaged.

The weather state bureau, Pagasa confirmed that the tornado originated from northern Bohol before it hit Olango island in Lapu-Lapu City, Mandaue, Cebu City, Compostela and Carmen towns. The tornado was spawned by the severe thunderstorm that developed over the area around 7 p.m. and lasted for more than an hour.

Pagasa issued thunderstorm warning over Metro Cebu, Aloguinsan, Pinamungajan, Toledo City, Balamban and Asturias at 6:50pm.

When it left northern Bohol where it started, it traveled through the sea and generated strength and turned into severe thunderstorm, said Alfredo Quiblat, a senior weather specialist of the Mactan station of Pagasa.

“It is a tornado that originated from the sea but it is not a water spout” Quiblat told Cebu Daily News.

At 7:45 p.m., Pagasa recorded 80 kilometers per hour wind which according to Quiblat, was similar to a tropical storm. Canduman 4.57mm

Intense rains was also recorded by rain sensors of Project Noah in Mandaue and Naga cities around 8 p.m. The Mactan station of Pagasa recorded an accumulated rain of 24.2 millimeters from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. last Monday evening.

A severe thunderstorm is capable of generating heavy rains, straight lined wind (unos), thunder and lightning, hail storm, and tornado.

The abnormal weather system was spawned by the Low Pressure Area (LPA) embedded in the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). The LPA that pass by Central Visayas was the weakened tropical depression Wilma which made a landfall in Tandag City, Surigao del Sur around noon last Monday.

Injured

There were 21 injured in Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu and Cebu cities when wind blew off tin roofs and toppled trees.

Motorists that were at the Mactan-Mandaue bridge at around 8 p.m. had to stop because of the strong wind.

The tornado blew the roof of a chapel, basketball court, and damaged the barangay hall of barangay hall of Tinago, in Olanggo island in Lapu-Lapu.

It lifted a house in the coastal village of Mactan in Lapu-Lapu City and threw it to the water injuring the family who were preparing to sleep last night.

Gemelina trees that lined the road in Punta Engano toppled down.

Staff from the local government of Lapu-Lapu City have to clear the road.

GI sheets that were used as a fence of St. James amusement park at the Mandaue Reclamation Area in Mandaue City were blown and rolled.

Park Mall also at the Mandaue Reclamation Area also sustained damages.