Residents try to recover what they can get from the houses that were destroyed by Monday’s whirlwind that hit the area in Purok Narra 2 Greenhills, Barangay Poblacion, Liloan town. | Paul Lauro
CEBU CITY, Philippines — “Alimpus gyod to (It was really a whirlwind).”
This was how a resident of Purok Narra 2 Greenhills, Barangay Poblacion in Liloan town in northern Cebu described the swirling mass of wind, that hit the the area at past 4 p.m. on Monday, July 8.
The strong gusts of wind blew away the roofs of several houses including Regie Estomago’s house, which partly collapsed and sent several of their things strewn all over in disarray.
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Estomago told CDN Digital in an interview on Tuesday, July 9, that fortunately, his wife and two minor children inside the house were left shaken but not hurt after the whirlwind hit.
According to Merriam Webster’s dictionary, a whirlwind is a small rotating windstorm of limited extent.
Monday’s strong gusts of wind from the whirlwind, however, destroyed several of the houses in the area and caused the collapse of a bunkhouse in a nearby construction site for a warehouse project.
Another resident, whose house was destroyed, said that the sudden gusts of wind felled several banana plants before hitting their house and blew away the roof.
The female resident said that they hid under the table and waited for the strong wind to pass.
“Giingnan ko sa akong anak nga ma pasok mo ilawom sa lamisa,” she said.
(I was told by my daughter, ma hide under the table.)
She, her husband and her grandson did that and hid under the table.
She believed that the strong winds lasted for about 15 minutes.
A worker of a construction site also described how the strong winds hit and destroyed their bunkhouse.
“Maayo gani nga niigo to ang kusog nga hangin mga pasado alas 5 sa hapon kay kung pasado alas 6 pa to, anha na mi moistar sa bunkhouse,” the construction worker told CDN Digital about how fortunate they were that they were outside the bunkhouse when the whirlwind struck.
(It was fortunate that the strong winds hit at past 5 p.m. and not at 6 p.m. because at that time we will usually stay in the bunkhouse.)
The whirlwind’s strong winds caused the bunkhouse to collapse causing damage to a motorcycle parked inside it.
“Uwan uwan ra man to nga ordinaryo unya nagsige og pangilat. Unya nikalit lang og kusog ang hangin,” said the construction worker.
(It was just an ordinary rain then there was frequent lighning. Then the wind suddenly because stronger.)
Another resident, Lani Angtud, said that she and her son hid under the bed when the roof of their house got blown away by the strong winds.
She said that the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office personnel arrived later and moved them to the elementary school in the barangay where the affected residents were evacuated.
Liloan is a first class municipality of the province of Cebu, and it is located approximately 18 kilometers north of Cebu City.