Pagasa: Confined rainfall caused flashflood

There was no typhoon in the area but there was “confined rainfall” and thick clouds over northern Cebu when a flash flood hit Liloan town’s Mulao river, where a boy drowned, the Mactan office of the state weather bureau Pagasa said.

Pagasa Mactan weather analyst Bolivar Artiaga said an Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) was also spotted the same day in Mindanao.

Artiaga said the current pattern of two days of rain a week doesn’t signal the start of the rainy season yet. The season usually consists of five days of rain a week.

He said they noticed thick isolated clouds that formed in northern Cebu last Thursday afternoon and stretched to the western part of Cebu when the flashflood occured i Liloan.

“Usually, isolated clouds form where there are trees and waterways. Rainfall in turn is dumped and confined in an area,” Artiaga said.

He said scattered rains are normally experienced and that due to climate change, confined rains are not a rare occurrence.

He warned those living in upland areas to beware if they notice thick clouds forming even before any rain.

“If they see that the color of the water flowing in rivers change, they should be careful because it might already be flooding in more elevated area,” he said.

The Capitol will extend assistance to the family of the child who drowned in Liloan.

Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia said the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office will release P5,000 cash aid to Daryl Yuson’s family.

A food stipend and canned goods will also be given to the family.

Daryl Yuson was swept by floodwaters that swept a river he swam in barangay Mulao, Liloan town last Thursday.

He was found in a portion of the river in sitio Casantos, barangay Cabadiangan in Liloan town or about two kilometers from Mulao at past Friday noon.

Yuson was supposed to take part in Liloan town’s Rosquillos festival tomorrow.