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CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews / 12 Jan) – Heavy rains flooded parts of the Mambajao town poblacion in Camiguin on Tuesday.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) reported that a “Low Pressure Area/Tail End of a Frontal System” is causing the heavy rains.
Captain Francisco Sabud Jr., officer-in-charge of the PNP Region 10 information office, said the severe weather disturbance was aggravated by a water tornado that hit the mountain heights of Camiguin around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday.
“The flood waters turned the roads in Mambajao town into muddy rivers,” Sabud told MindaNews by phone.
Sabud said the mountain road to the PHILVOCS Observatory Station in Camiguin was temporarily blocked by fallen trees Tuesday morning.
The Camiguin Disaster Risk Reduction and Management office reported that 21 families or 95 individuals have to be evacuated to safety.
“The flood rose in a matter of minutes. First the water was clear and then it turned into murky brown,” John Simborios, provincial director of the Technical Education and Skills Development, in Mambajao said.
Simborios said he had to advise all of his employees to go home for fear they might be trapped in the flood.
He said knee-deep water swamped the poblacion near the Mambajao public market and stopped vehicular traffic near the Camiguin School of Arts and Trade in Barangay Lumad, Mambajao.
(Froilan Gallardo / MindaNews)
