A lone house is left among the houses at the coastline of Barangay Ibo, Lapu-Lapu City, which were destroyed by big waves at the height of Tropical Depression Vicky’s wrath. | Photo courtesy of Lapu-Lapu DRRMO
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu Province was not left unscarred of Tropical Depression (TD) Vicky when it passed by southern and central Cebu on the dawn of Saturday, December 19, 2020.
The Cebu Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) reported that eventhough landslides, floodings, and storm surges were experienced by the local government units, no one died in the raging storm.
Read: #VickyPH damages roads, fishing boats in southern Cebu
According to Rhee Telen II, PDRRMO spokesperson, the tropical depression brought 40.7 millimeters of rainfall to the central and southern portions of the province and flooding to areas including towns of Argao and Boljoon.
In Argao, the floods destroyed a house, while in Boljoon 12 pumpboats were destroyed due to the flooding.
The storm surge has caused damage to coastal barangays in cities of Lapu-Lapu and Danao as well as towns of Dumanjug, Compostela, and Dalaguete.
Read: Big waves wash away 76 homes in Lapu-Lapu City
At least 209 families or 884 individuals were evacuated before and during the storm in the storm surge-affected local government units (LGUs).
As of noon of Saturday, December 19, 2020, these evacuees have slowly returned to their homes except for those whose homes were damaged by the storm surge.
The evacuees are housed in their respective LGUs or barangay gyms. Minor landslides were recorded along Manipis Road in Talisay City and another in San Fernando town.
Read: Manipis Road closed starting 8 p.m. for TD Vicky
The Manipis Road, which was closed for vehicles on Friday night, has been reopened partially on Saturday morning.
One lane accommodating two ways have been reopened for the Manipis Road as the city government continues to clean up the remaining debris in the area.
Initially, two individuals went missing in Sibonga town past 4 p.m. of Friday. The two fishermen went out to sea despite warnings of big waves, and were eventually lost.
Fortunately, they found their way back to shore around 4 a.m. on Saturday and were found uninjured in Barangay Tal-ot in Argao town.
The individuals were battling with the rough seas for at least 12 hours before they found shore.
“Ang forecast sa PAGASA (Philippine Atmospheric Geophyical and Astronomical Services Administration) kay better na ang panahon ugma, mobinta-bintaha na. Karong adlawa, makasinati pa tag pat-ak pat-ak nga pag-ulan,” said Telen.
(The forecast of PAGASA [Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration] is that the weather tomorrow will improve. Today, we will experience scattered rain showers.)
The PDRRMO may be downgrading the alert status to normal within the day as there is no more expected weather disturbances in the next few days.
However, Telen warned that one more tropical depression or typhoon could be expected before the year would end, and he urged the public to be vigilant and prepare for the disasters that might come. /dbs