Freak whirlwind destroys 200 houses in Tacurong

This photo, taken at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 9, 2019l, show thick clouds above Tacurong City before a heavy downpour started accompanied by strong wind . (Photo from the Tacurong CDRRMO)

Updated @ 7:42 p.m., April 10, 2019, to add quotes and photos and update the number of damaged houses

TACURONG CITY, Sultan Kudarat – A freak whirlwind that hit this city’s residential and commercial districts on Tuesday afternoon damaged more than 200 homes.

“More than 200 homes were damaged, our assessment and evaluation are still going on but that is the initial report,” Rodrigo Jamorabon, Tacurong City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) action officer, told the INQUIRER on Wednesday.

“We did not see it coming,” Rudy Jacob, the chairman of the badly-hit Barangay San Pablo, said in a radio interview. “It was supposedly a very sunny day, suddenly strong winds coming from east started to blow light materials.”

“It was my first time to experience this kind of weather,” Jacob added.

Earl Colin, a resident of Tacurong, described the thick cloud formation as similar to those in the movie “Twister.”

Jamorabon said at least 107 homes were damaged in Barangay San Emmanuel, 70 homes in Barangay San Pablo, and more than 50 others in outskirt communities.

“We have no evacuees because those whose houses were totally destroyed prefer to put up makeshift home,” Jamorabon said.

A woman surveys the toppled ceiling of a covered court in Barangay San Pablo, Tacurong City, after heavy rainfall and a freak whirlwind hit the city on Tuesday, April 9, 2019. (Photo from the Tacurong CDRRMO)

Two schools were affected — The San Emmanuel National High School Annex and Abang Suizo Elementary School. The combined damage on both was estimated to be P690,000, Jamorabon said, quoting a report from Department of Education.

He said the total cost of damage across the city could be more than P10 million.

“Many said it was a freak tornado,” Jamorabon told the INQUIRER. “We saw ceilings of newly-built bungalows being blown away. Huge trees were no match to the strong winds that battered the city for about an hour.”

Sugarcane plantations in the nearby town of President Quirino in Sultan Kudarat were also flattened by the weather disturbance.

Tacurong City (outlined in red) is in the province of Sultan Kudarat in Mindanao. (Image from Google Maps)

/atm