Flash flood kills 1 in Cebu; 2 others missing

CEBU CITY — One person died while two others went missing after being swept away by a flash flood while swimming in a waterfall in the northern town of Catmon, Cebu, on Sunday afternoon, September 26.

Wilson Ramos, information officer of the Cebu Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, said they have now switched to a “search and retrieval” operation to look for the missing persons.

Ramos said there is only a slim chance that the two missing persons, identified as 32-year-old Jacel Alastra and her daughter Princess who is only seven years old, may still be alive.

The body of Alastra’s nephew Kent Jude Monterolla, 17, was retrieved Sunday night a few kilometers down at the spillway in Barangay Corazon, which is near the beach and about seven kilometers from the waterfalls.

A video of the incident showed that a group of 11 people was bathing at the pristine waters of the layered falls when the waters suddenly turned brown, swelled, and swept all of them downstream.

Many of the 100 people in the Tinubdan Falls at that time were able to scamper for safety.

Ramos said that the flash flood could be because of a localized thunderstorm from other portions of the town even though it appears to be sunny at the site of the waterfalls.

He advised people to be careful and alert in detecting changes in the waters when swimming in rivers and waterfalls.