Tree branch cuts power in Basak

ANOTHER tree accident during yesterday afternoon’s heavy rains caused a brownout in the barangay Basak area.

The gusts of wind and heavy rain caused a large branch to fall off an acacia tree cutting electric wires on its way down and partially blocking the road in barangay Basak, Cebu City, said Alvin Santillana,  Cebu City Risk Reduction Management Council chief.

Santillana said as of 5 p.m. the Visayan Electric Co. was still working to restore power in the area.

No one was hurt in the accident, which happened a few days after an acacia tree toppled and crushed a passenger jeepney killing its driver in barangay Zapatera.

The Zapatera accident prompted the Cebu City government to monitor old trees in the city and formed a task force to prune or cut trees identified by the Cebu City Agriculture Department  dangerous to the public.

The task force yesterday started pruning trees at the road fronting the University of the Philippines in the Visayas Cebu Campus.

The pruning team is made up of representatives from the City Agriculture, Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW), General Services Offices (GSO)and the Cebu City Risk Reduction Management Council.

“We could have carried on with the task last Monday but we still had to sit down with the University of the Philippines heads to inform them of our move since we cannot just cut the trees without informing the owners,” Santillana said.

City Agriculturist Arleigh Gesta also said that 120 acacia trees were identified and would be pruned or cut.

“We would like to clarify that we are not into cutting but only pruning just to correct the balance of the tree so that it won’t easily fall to the ground when a gust of wind hits it. But should the City Agriculture or the DENR assess that the tree is already weak and needed to be cut, then that’s the time when we cut it down,” Santillana said.

Yesterday, the team pruned one tree and cut another at the UP area.

Santillana said the team would continue pruning and marking trees today./Reporter Candeze R. Mongaya and Correspondent Edison A. delos Angeles