ZAMBOANGA CITY (MindaNews / 9 October) – A family of three was lucky to escape unscathed when a “moderate” twister uprooted their house and partially destroyed another early Thursday in this city.
The twister hit a small community in Sitio Mulumuluan, Barangay Mercedes shortly before 1 a.m. amid heavy rains coupled with roaring thunder and lightning.
Gilbert Damgo said he forced his wife and three children to stay on the bed and told them not to stand up after strong winds hit their home amid heavy downpour.
Damgo said the next thing he noticed was that all of them were wet as the twister uprooted and lifted their house more 10 meters away.
Damgo’s house is made of light materials with only the floor made of concrete.
The twister also destroyed the roof of the house of their neighbor, Josephine Lanipa, and also uprooted some of the fruit trees in the community.
Maribel Enriquez, chief meteorological officer of Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA)-Zamboanga Station, said Damgo has done the right decision.
Enriquez said they might have been carried away if they stood up although she described the phenomenon as a “moderate” twister.
Enriquez based her description of the twister on the video footage shown to her as to the damage it had caused in Sitio Mulumuluan.
The twister hit the place as this city had been experiencing inclement weather condition the past few days, which PAGASA said was brought about by the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) hovering over Mindanao and some parts of the Visayas region.
The City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office has been placed on alert for possible emergencies that may arise due to continuous rains spawned by the ITCZ.