Rains ahead for Cebu as ‘Dante’ enters PH

Heavy rain is expected for Cebu City in the next two days as tropical depression “Dante” enters at speeds of 730 km to the northeast of Casiguran, Aurora province in northeastern Luzon.
Cebu won’t be directly affected by the tropical depression since “it is still based in Casiguran” and is projected to stay in the area, said Oscar Tabada, acting chief of the Mactan office of the state weather bureau Pagasa.
As of 5 p.m. yesterday, Metro Cebu experienced cloudy skies with rain with a similar forecast for today. Coastal waters forecast will be slight to moderate.
Residents along riverbanks and creeks were reminded to stay alert and be ready to move to higher ground at the slightest sign of raised water level.
City government tree cutters and emergency responders were on alert since noon yesterday for emergencies.
“It’s better for us to watch at night-time when many people are asleep,” said Alvin Santillana, operations chief of the disaster office.
Rainwater level in the city remained at 7.5 mm or within normal range  during a 2 p.m. downpour based on the rain gauge in Mambaling.
If rain reaches 20 mm, the level would be above normal and many parts of the city would have knee-deep flooding, said Santillana.
Barangay officials are also monitoring flood prone areas in the city which include the Mahiga River from Banilad Country Mall to barangay Mabolo where the river ends.
Other sites are the Lahug River, Echavez and Sikatuna Streets and barangays T. Padilla and San Roque where the river also passes.
Santillana also warned residents below the Monterrazas development project in barangay Guadalupe to monitor any water outflow from their retention ponds.
During Friday’s pre-disaster meeting, barangay officials were asked to prepare their dump trucks and buses to ferry evacuees./Chief of Reporters Doris C. Bongcac and Correspondents Michelle Joy L. Padayhag and Norman V. Mendoza