BY GLENDA TAYONA, IME SORNITO and RHENJIE MAE CALANTAS
ILOILO City – An early morning tornado ripped through Arevalo district in this city and Oton town in Iloilo province on Tuesday, and left 136 houses roofless, partially damaged or totally flattened.
The twister also injured three individuals.
According to the Iloilo City Operations Center, the tornado struck around 5:30 a.m. in barangays Sto. Domingo and Sta. Cruz in Arevalo causing damage to 56 houses. It also knocked down trees and an electrical post.
In Oton, aside from Barangay Alegre, the tornado also struck Barangay San Nicolas, leaving a total of 80 houses destroyed.
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that extends from a thunderstorm to the ground. Black storm clouds gather. A funnel suddenly appears, as though descending from a cloud. The funnel hits the ground, roars forward and tears up everything in its path.
The injured in Barangay Sta. Cruz, Arevalo were 68-year-old Vilma Villarete and a nine-year-old child who got trapped in their house that was hit by an uprooted mango tree, and 40-year-old Gildorico Marañon who got hit by a fallen roof of Barangay Alegre, Oton.
According to Lemmel, daughter of Marañon, they were awakened by gusts of strong wind that ripped off their roof.
“Tulog kami nga apat upod si Papa. Paghangin nakibot kami, tapos ginkup-an ni Papa ang bata nga gamay, tapos naigu siya sang sin. Nakibot kami naghibi na si Mama nga dal-on na sa hospital si Papa kay damo na dugo,” Lemmel recalled.
Marañon was rushed to the hospital for treatment. He is now in a stable condition as of this writing.
Based on the validated report of the Iloilo City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) as of 6 p.m. yesterday, 17 houses in Arevalo were totally damaged, 12 of which were from Sta. Cruz and five were from Sto. Domingo.
Thirty-nine, meanwhile, were partially damaged which include 23 and 16 houses in Sto. Domingo and Sta. Cruz, respectively.
A total of 86 families or 430 individuals were displaced in the said villages, data from the CSWDO further showed. They were temporarily staying at the evacuation centers (barangay chapels and day care centers) while others stayed with their immediate families.
For Oton, Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officer (LDRRMO) Jezelley L. Soltes reported to the Provincial DRRMO that 18 houses were totally damaged in Barangay Alegre while in Barangay San Nicolas, eight were totally damaged and 54 were partially damaged.
Mark John Turija, one of the affected residents of Barangay Alegre, said their whole roof was blown away.
“Medyo masanag na sang natabo ‘ni kaina. Indi man matudo ang ulan, gulpiyada lang gid ya nga hangin nga makusog, may nagsiga nga masanag, amo to ginkup-an ko akon bata kag ang asawa ko. Pagbalikid namon ang amon atop nagsaka na, bilog gid namon nga atop gindala niya,” Turija said.
Respective local social welfare and development office of Oton and Iloilo City immediately conducted relief operation to the affected families.
As of this writing, the CSWDO has already provided food items to the tornado victims.
Iloilo City’s Mayor Jerry P. Treñas also said that the city government will extend financial assistance to the affected families: P10,000 for those whose houses were totally damaged and P5,000 for partially damaged houses.
Dr. Jerry Bionat, PDRRMO head, said the local government unit (LGU) of Oton is preparing for the release of financial assistance to the tornado victims.
He noted that the provincial government, if needed, is also ready to provide additional financial assistance through Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS) program.
“Gina-document na subong sang LGU ang apektado nga mga balay kag hatagan man sang banwa sang assistance. If ever kag nagakabagay nga may augmentation sa province, usually makapangayo man ina sila kay governor,” said Bionat.
As of this writing, there were already some families in Oton who returned to their houses while those whose houses were totally flattened temporarily took shelter at the evacuation centers like barangay hall and barangay covered gym.
Aside from Oton, a house in Leganes town was totally damaged after being hit by a fallen tree due to strong winds and heavy rains yesterday.
Localized thunderstorms suspend classes
On the other hand, due to the sudden localized thunderstorms which brought heavy rains and strong winds yesterday, local chief executives in some towns in Iloilo province and Iloilo City declared the suspension of classes from kinder to senior high school.
Bionat explained that the heavy rains and winds were brought by the northeast monsoon or amihan that will last until March or April.
With this, the PDRRMO chief cautioned the families residing in coastal areas to be vigilant and take precautionary measures if necessary.
“Ang aton advisory sa aton mga kabarangayan nga may kasubong sina (coastal areas) nga mag-aligmat kay sooner or later mabalik na liwat ang buhawi,” said Bionat./PN