Hailstorm-hit village still recovering from damage

More than a week after a hailstorm hit Pinamungajan town, southwest Cebu, the barangay of Lamac is still recovering from the damage caused to almost 180 huts and houses.

Mayor Geraldine Yapha told Cebu Daily News construction materials are being distributed to families so they can rebuild their homes.

The municipality of Pinamungahan spent P3.1 million so far from its calamity funds.

No cash doleouts were given since the main need was construction materials.

Mayor Yapha said the assistance given to storm victims depends on the request of residents and the barangay captain, and the actual need.

“There are others who only lost their roof,” Yapha said

Many residents fear the May 17 freak storm, the first ever to occur in Cebu, would happen again.

But the chances of a hailstorm recurring there is remote.

On a scale of 1 to 10, the likelihood of another hailstorm is 1 to 2, said weather observer Raphael Tapales of Pagasa Mactan.

This phenomenon where ice balls or pellets fall from the sky usually occurs in cold locations.

Allthough hail doesn’t normally occur in tropical countries, Tapales said this has happened before in Baguio City a couple of times and once in Quezon City in 2008.

In last week’s storm, the thunderclouds’ temperature reached zero degrees Celsius, the freezing point of liquid.

When the ice crystals were released by the dense cumulonimbus clouds, they didn’t melt into water because the clouds were too close to the ground at about 480 meters, he said. /Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus