Quinta slows, causes little damage to Cebu

There was only slight damage in north Cebu, mostly flattened banana  plants, and no deaths reported when  tropical storm “Quinta” , the last typhoon of the year, weakened at noon yesterday.

“We were ready for it,” said Acting Cebu Gov. Agnes Magpale, who convened the  Cebu Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council   at the Capitol, where status reports were given.

She said the council actually met four days ago, upon hearing reports of a coming storm.

Eleven families were affected in Sogod town and Sta. Fe and Bantayan towns in Bantayan Island.

Two houses were destroyed in Sta. Fe and Sogod towns while eight were damaged in Bantayan and Sogod towns.

No evacuations were needed in the affected towns, said the Provincial Social Welfare and Development (PSWD) office.

Power was cut off in Bantayan and Camotes islands at 4 a.m. but was refully restored by 4 p.m.

The utilities Banelco and Celco switched off  their power generators because of strong winds and rains.

Outages were also experiened in northern towns from Compostela to Medellin but power was restored in the afternon.

In Camotes Island, 100 banana trees were uprooted by the strong winds.

A A man in Balamban town, sustained cuts after a papaya tree fell on him but there were no casualties, said the Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) 7 .

Quinta hit Pacijan Island, in San Francisco  town is the Camotes Group of Islands at 4 a.m. and then Catmon  town at 5 a.m. said Oscar Tabada of Pagasa.

Damage was minimal in north Cebu said OCD Operations officer Neil Balaba..

Those hit by brownouts were Toledo City, Tuburan,    Balamban, Pinamungajan, Asturias, Aloguinsan,  Bogo, Daanbanyayan, Catmon and Sogod but power was s gradually restored, Balaba said.

Roads were quickly cleared of fallen debris in Catmon, Sogod, Tuburan and Asturias, said Chief Supt. Marcelo Garbo, Police Regional Office (PRO-7) chief,

At least  939 passengers were stranded in Cebu City port said Cebu Coast Guard commander Capt. Rolando Punzalan when vessels were not allowed to sail in Bantayan and northern Cebu early on Christmas Day with storm signal number 1.

There were also 101 passengers stranded in Hagnaya port in San Remegio, northern Cebu.

He said the San Remegio government provided meals to the stranded passengers.

Vessels  headed to Bohol, Leyte and other parts of eastern Visayas and northern Mindanao were cleared to sail after “Quinta” weakened to a tropical depression before noon yesterday.

But he said trips to Iloilo, Guimaras, Negros Occidental, Aklan province and even Batangas and Manila remain grounded last night.

Punzalan said they cannot allow trips to areas declared under signal number 1 and to destinations where vessels will pass.

Storm warning signal 1 for Cebu was lifted while the storm warning signal was lifted over Bohol and Leyte areas at 11 a.m.

A  motorbanca in Pasil defied the grounding order from the Coast Guard and left port at 11 a.m. It  arrived safely in  Buenavista Bohol after nearly two hours of travel. /Carmel Loise Matus and Jhunnex Napallacan, Correspondents with Correspondent Chito Aragon