Bajao tribal famiies in barangay Mambaling, Cebu City struggle to repair the tornado damage on their houses built on stilts. (CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO)
The force of Tuesday’s tornado that ripped roofs off shanties in south Cebu City was estimated at 200 kilometers an hour, said veteran weatherman Oscar Tabada.
At that speed, the mini-tornado had the strength of a supertyphoon.
It lasted about 30 minutes before it dissipated, said Tabada, director of the Visayas of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa).
While tornadoes occur in the Philippines, smaller and less dramatic than giant twisters in the United States, the recent incident showed how residents in Metro Cebu were caught unaware when it struck, with no advance warning given.
It also raised questions about how people could be better prepared, especially vulnerable groups like the urban poor.
The impact of the tornado was most felt by Badjao families in barangay Alaska-Mambaling, one of the city’s poorest communities, where houses of light materials are built on stilts.
“The tornado reached speeds of more than 200 kilometers per hour and had a diameter of less than one kilometer. It lasted for 20 to 30 minutes,” Tabada told Cebu Daily News.
He said the tornado, with its short duration and limited area, did not inflict as much damage as 1990’s supertyphoon Ruping.
Pagasa’s radar in Mactan detected a large thundercloud but the ability to read the “signatures” of a tornado in weather data requires better equipment and expertise.
Tabada said Pagasa was able to detect the large cloud formation but it wasn’t until the tornado was already barreling through barangay Mambaling and Tisa in Cebu City and barangay San Roque in Talisay City, that the weather bureau knew it was there.
“Hangad-hangad lang ta sa langit kung magsugod nag kusog ang hangin ug an paganod,” he said in a TV Patrol Cebu newscast.
(We’ll just look up to the sky whenever the wind gets strong and it becomes cloudy.)
THREE TORNADOES
Before Tuesday’s twister, Metro Cebu experienced two tornadoes in a span of 10 months.
In June 17, 2013 a water spout that formed over the sea hit barangays Calajoan and Tungkil in Minglanilla town and two barangays of Talisay City in south Cebu, damaging 55 houses.
Five months later, on Nov. 6, a few days before supertyphon Yolanda , a twister destroyed traffic lights in the Mandaue Reclamation Area and damaged the St. James Amusement Park and part of Parkmall. It damaged a total of 70 houses Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu City, and parts of Compostela, Carmen and Danao.
Tuesday’s tornado strike was preceded by thunderstorm warnings after the Mactan weather station spotted a thunderstorm cloud at 1:45 p.m. “south to southwest of Mactan.” The tornado unleashed its wrath at 2:06 p.m.
Tabada said the tornado was an alimpulos as it developed in land.
If a tornado develops on water, it is called a water spout or buhawi, he added.
Tuesday’s tornado developed somewhere in barangay Tisa, then moved to sitio Alaska in barangay Mambaling where it wrought the most damage. It then moved to the South Road
Properties and to barangay San Roque, Talisay City before it dissipated.
Tabada advised people to run away if they see a tornado. Otherwise, duck under a sturdy shelter or cling to strong structures.
Pagasa’s national website shows the weather bureau tracking rainfall, typhoons and sea conditions but there’s no mention of tornadoes.
In the United States, tornado alerts and warnings are issued by the weather bureau. During this emergency, people are advised to go to the basement or “storm cellar”, or an interior room like a closet, hallway or bathroom.
Tabada told CDN that since the Philippines is composed of many islands, tornadoes here are smaller than those in the United States, where the destructive twisters develop over vast plains.
CONTROL CENTER
The newly launched Command Control Center or C3 in Cebu city, the hub of disaster response, was unable to detect the incoming tornado either.
City Councilor Dave Tumulak said it was already 2:10 p.m when he was informed by C3 personnel of the tornado strike, after someone called their hotline.
“But we were able to send emergency vehicles right after,” he said.
Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama instructed the city’s social welfare and engineering departments to assess the needs of the victims and the property damage.
“We really need an assessment especially with the barangay’s sports complex,” said Rama who visited the disaster area yesterday.
CAUSES
Tornadoes develop when warm air rises and is met by cold air during a severe thunderstorm.
The cold air in the atmosphere sinks and sends the warm air spinning upward. The warm air spins faster and faster and eventually a funnel cloud forms and touches the ground. When it touches ground, it becomes a tornado.
Tornadoes are most common in the vast plains of the United States, reaching wind speeds of up to 500 kilometers per hour, causing severe damage.
Is this phenonmenon related to extreme weather changes of Climate Change?
A May 2013 National Geographic article entitled: Tornadoes and Global Warming: Is There a Connection? written by Robert Kunzig, said that “Linking any particular weather event to climate change is always tricky, because weather is inherently random.
But weather patterns can speak to a warming planet. Tornadoes are different. Global warming may well end up making them more frequent or intense.” /with Reporter Santino Bunachita and CORRESPONDENT Michelle Joy L. Padayhag