Twister hits 4 villages in Quezon province

LUCENA CITY—A twister struck four villages in San Antonio town in Quezon province on Thursday afternoon and destroyed nine houses, a provincial disaster management official said.

Henry Buzar, coordinator of the Quezon disaster risk reduction management council, said the whirlwind, locally known as ipo-ipo, swept around 2:45 p.m. in the villages of Del Valle, Callejon, Briones and Irosin.

He said the affected areas were showered with ice droplets or hailstorm.

Rommel Vidal, San Antonio DRRMC officer, said the affected houses suffered partial destruction.

“It was strong. A roof flew 20 meters away,” he said over the phone.

An old school in one of the villages was also partially hit and its wooden parts fell down.

“It’s good that there were no more students inside,” he said.

Vidal said no villager was injured. He attributed the zero injury to the disaster drill that they conducted last week. He said whirlwind was one of several weather calamities that were taught during the drill.

Buzar posted an advisory on his Facebook page. “Precautionary measures must be done by all whenever dark, gloomy clouds set in in your locality.”