by Carmel R. Matus, Correspondent
Strong wind destroyed this nipa hut in Pinamungajan after it was rained with ice. (CDN PHOTO/ CARINE ASUTILLA)
Residents of the mountain community of Pinamungajan town, Cebu were dumbfounded to see hail stones falling from the sky and damaging their homes yesterday afternoon.
At least 175 houses were damaged when hail and a strong whirlwind struck the area, raining ice particles as big as a person’s thumb and blowing off nipa huts and fully grown trees.
Senior weather specialist Al Kiblat of the state weather bureau Pagasa said while the event is not extraordinary, these marked the first time that the twin weather anomalies happened in Central Visayas.
The day started out sunny until dark clouds hovered over the hills. At 1 p.m., a resident named Angelisa Abadies was shocked to hear thunderstorms and lightning.
She heard something banging loudly on the rooftop and thought it wasn’t rain on going outside, Angelisa said she saw ice particles on the roof and on the ground.
It was followed by a strong wind that blew off the roofs of nipa huts and trees. The phenomenon lasted 10 to 20 minutes and covered barangays Lamac and Sibago. Fallen banana shrubs and trees piled up everywhere in the area.
Julito Tigley
May 19, 2012
I love this place. I had served in Pinamungajan before.that was thirty years ago. I knew the Yaphas and the two Doctors, Jun and Estrella who are prominent politicians on that town. On that mountain Barangay, Lamak and Punod, the then. Governor Gullas called it the hidden valley. And closer to their church, were people congested themselves, and some are immigrants from other places, who came there for treatment and believers of Inse Iyang, the padrina of the place before. I am dismayed by the news that a whirlwind hit the place. For the Garcias, new Governor, and Congressman PJ, a housing project for the victims, would somehow solve their problem. I knew, that most of the people are Christian in their own right. Any help, from all sources, would be a welcome move to them. For the second time, I love that place.