Iloilo City warns residents: skip selfies during storms

By Rjay Zuriaga Castor

ILOILO CITY – The Iloilo City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) has urged residents to prioritize their safety instead of taking photos or selfies during severe weather, after a “micro-tornado” swept through parts of the city over the weekend.

Darwin Joemil Papa, head of the CDRRMO’s Disaster Response Division, said the office observed videos showing people documenting the weather disturbance despite the strong winds.

“We do hope that some of the bad practices we saw in the videos will not be repeated. We would like to advocate to everybody that next time, let us not do it because we have seen that even though the wind was very strong, some were still taking selfies,” he said on Monday, Aug. 10.

He said no significant number of injuries was recorded during the Saturday night incident.

He warned, however, that the outcome could have been different had the event occurred during daytime, when more people would have been outdoors.

“Let us try to avoid that next time,” Papa added.

The weather disturbance struck parts of Iloilo City on Saturday night, Aug. 8, uprooting trees, toppling utility posts, damaging houses, and disrupting electricity in several areas.

The Iloilo City Emergency Operations Center placed the onset at about 10:30 p.m., when the enhanced southwest monsoon was affecting Western Visayas.

Initial reports on Sunday counted 52 damaged houses, a figure that has since more than doubled as assessment teams completed their sweep of the affected barangays.

While the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) has yet to issue a final determination on the phenomenon, Papa said the CDRRMO was leaning toward the possibility that the event was a micro-tornado, based on the observed damage pattern.

“Notwithstanding the final [assessment] of PAGASA, based only on the experiential evidence and the evidence we gathered and its effects, we are leaning more toward the possibility that it was a micro-tornado,” he explained.

He said the disturbance appeared to begin in Q. Abeto in Mandurriao before moving toward Megaworld and Taft North.

It then passed through the Jaro district in Calubihan, the Jaro Public Market, and Jaro Cathedral, before reaching Jaro Plaza, Benedicto, Cubay, and Balabago.

The relatively narrow path of damage through Jaro Plaza was among the observations that led the CDRRMO to consider a tornado, locally known as a buhawi, rather than a downburst.

A tornado is a narrow, violently rotating column of air that extends from a thunderstorm to the ground, producing swirling winds and often a curved or converging pattern of damage.

In contrast, a downburst occurs when powerful air descends from a thunderstorm, strikes the ground, and spreads outward in straight-line winds, usually causing trees, debris, and structures to fall in broadly the same direction.

“We also noticed that the effect was very narrow. When it passed through Jaro Plaza, the center portion was affected while the sides were not as severely affected,” Papa said.

He said a downburst could have produced a broader area of damage.

“Still, we will defer to and wait for the final decision of PAGASA,” he added.

Papa warned that similar weather events cannot be ruled out during thunderstorms, particularly amid heavy rains and the enhanced southwest monsoon.

“The danger is that whenever we have a thunderstorm during heavy rains, and the habagat season, we cannot discount the possibility of a downburst or tornado,” he said, noting that such phenomena could occur over land or at sea.

101 families receive aid

Meanwhile, the Iloilo City government released financial assistance on Monday to families whose homes were damaged by the weather disturbance, so they could immediately begin repairs.

A total of 101 families received initial financial assistance.

Four families whose houses were totally damaged received PHP 10,000 each, while 97 families with partially damaged houses received PHP 5,000 each.

Among the affected areas were Cubay, CC-EL 98, Q. Abeto, Balabago, Calubihan, Tabuc Suba, and Benedicto.

Cubay recorded the highest concentration of affected residents, followed by CC-EL 98, Q. Abeto, and Balabago.

City Mayor Raisa Treñas-Chu said the assistance was released immediately to help affected families purchase construction materials and begin repairing their homes.

“It is important that they do not have to wait any longer. That is why we immediately released the financial assistance so they can use it to buy materials and start repairing their houses,” Treñas-Chu said.

The city’s latest assessment placed the number of affected residents at 148 families, or 587 individuals, across 12 barangays.

Three evacuation centers were opened, accommodating 71 families or 256 people.

Another 77 families, or 331 individuals, temporarily stayed elsewhere outside the evacuation centers.