Strong winds due to bad weather has uprooted a huge tree that fell down on the highway and blocked traffic leading to Daanlungsod in Medellin, northern Cebu. | 📷: Medellin MDRRMO
CEBU CITY, Philippines – At least one got injured while several areas in northern Cebu became inundated due to heavy rains brought by the effects of the low-pressure area (LPA) on Wednesday, July 17.
Several localities like the town of San Remigio had also conducted preemptive evacuation on families affected by the floods that started late Wednesday afternoon.
According to the local government on its official Facebook page, at least 80 individuals from Brgy. Lawis were transferred to the San Remigio Sports Complex and Evacuation Center.
READ: LPA may not hit C. Visayas but habagat to bring rains
The barangay captain ordered the evacuation and personally escorted residents after floodwaters began to enter their respective houses.
Meanwhile in Catmon town, intense rainfall resulted in a landslide that hit a popular beach destination in Brgy. Binongkalan.
Rocks from the landslide injured a 40-year-old man who was immediately rushed to the hospital.
READ: Mandaue City floods displace 352 families, Cortes seeks solutions
Glenn Villas, head of Catmon Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, said that the landslide destroyed the parking space of the beach resort.
Flooding
Netizens also reported flooding in other areas in northern Cebu that made some roads impassable, including the highway in Brgy. Don Pedro, Bogo City that borders San Remigio in the west.
READ: Inter-tropical convergence zone to bring rains in Cebu – Pagasa
The bridge in Brgy. Ilihan in Tabogon town is currently impassable due to strong floodwater surge. | Photo from Renato Espiritu Jr.
Floods were also experienced in the towns of Tabogon and Borbon while the highway leading to Brgy. Daanlungsod in Medellin town became impassable due to a felled tree.
LPA
At 5 p.m. on Wednesday, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration in Mactan (Pagasa-Mactan) issued several color-coded heavy rainfall advisories in Cebu due to the presence of the LPA.
READ:EXPLAINER: What do color-coded rainfall warnings mean?
They raised Orange Warning Level in northern Cebu, covering (San Francisco, Tudela, Poro, Pilar, Carmen, Catmon, Tuburan, Sogod, Danao City, Asturias, Tabuelan, Borbon, Tabogon, San Remigio, Bogo City, Medellin, Daanbantayan, Bantayan, Santa Fe, Madridejos.
Areas under Orange Warning Level will receive rainfall between 15 millimeters (mm) and 30 mm within an hour, and will likely continue in the next two hours.
Water from rainfall amounting to 33 mm can fill 12 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Pagasa-Mactan also raised Yellow Warning Level in other areas in Cebu.
These included Pinamungahan, Toledo City, Balamban, Compostela, Liloan, Consolacion, Cebu City, Mandaue City, Lapu-Lapu City, Talisay City, Cordova, Minglanilla, Naga City, San Fernando, Carcar, Aloguinsan, Barili, Sibonga, Argao, Ronda, Dumanjug, Alcantara, Moalboal, Badian, Dalaguete, Alcoy, Alegria, Boljoon, Oslob, Malabuyoc, Ginatilan, Samboan, and Santander.
Areas under a Yellow Heavy Rainfall Warning will experience rainfall between 7.5 millimeters (mm) and 15 mm within one hour and will continue in the next two hours.