Tornado now in disaster drills in Pampanga town

ROOFLESS  A tornado that hit Magalang, Pampanga, on July 29 ripped off the galvanized iron roofs of a school, a store and several houses in the town. —JOHN DC ZUNIGA/CONTRIBUTOR

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—The tornado that ripped through two villages in Magalang town, Pampanga province, on Monday was the first to strike there in 59 years, prompting the local government to include it in disaster preparedness drills, an official said.

The July 29 twister was “the first I’ve seen in the town,” said Dr. Ernie Aguilar, who heads the municipal disaster risk reduction and management council.

Magalang is located at the foothills of Mt. Arayat, along the Parua River, and is usually struck by landslides and floods.

The tornado occurred at 1 p.m. and confined itself in the villages of San Nicolas 2 and Sta. Cruz. Witnesses said it was seven to 10 stories high.

It ripped off the galvanized iron roofs of Magalang Institute, a store, a warehouse, a tricycle terminal and 18 houses, and toppled a concrete fence, according to a report from the provincial disaster risk reduction and management office.

Six high school students were hit by flying objects, a man was hit by a nail, and an elderly resident suffered from high blood pressure. They were treated in the hospital and sent home.

Citing official estimates on Wednesday, Aguilar said crops worth P134,184 were destroyed and property worth P1.216 million were damaged.

Tornadoes in Pampanga, which sits in the middle of basin-shaped Central Luzon region, appeared to have been occurring inland in recent years.

On Sept. 22, 2014, a tornado sent down several advertising billboards in the Pampanga capital of San Fernando and caused some electric transformers to explode, triggering brownouts.

On Aug. 16, 2014, a tornado left nine families homeless and 10 others with damaged homes at Barangay San Esteban in Macabebe and Apalit towns in Pampanga. On Nov. 7, 2011, Calumpit town in Bulacan province was also hit by a tornado. —TONETTE OREJAS