City braces for Carina, keeps eye on rivers

Tropical cyclone warning signal No. 1 hoisted over Northern Samar and Eastern Samar in the Visayas and in Catanduanes in Luzon

A LOW-pressure area (LPA) has intensified into a tropical depression, which may bring rains in most parts of Visayas throughout the weekend, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said.

According to Pagasa's severe weather bulletin issued at 5 p.m. yesterday, tropical depression Carina maintains its strength as it moves northwest towards eastern Luzon with an estimated rainfall amount from moderate to heavy within its 300-km. diameter.

Tropical cyclone warning signal No. 1 was hoisted over Northern Samar and Eastern Samar in the Visayas and Catanduanes in Luzon.

Areas under signal number 1 and the rest of Visayas and the provinces of Albay, Sorsogon and Masbate will have moderate to heavy rains, which may cause flash floods and landslides, warned the weather bureau.

Pagasa also alerted fisherfolk of moderate to rough seas over the eastern seaboards of Luzon and Visayas.

Four rivers

For its part, the Cebu City Government through its disaster office is closely monitoring four of the big rivers in the city.

Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (CCDRRMO) head Nagiel Bañacia said they have been monitoring the Mahiga, Guadalupe, Lahug and Kinalumsan rivers since these usually overflow during heavy downpour.

Despite the close monitoring, alert status in the city remains normal, Bañacia said.

“So far, we did not monitor any flooding, everything is normal still but we already assigned personnel from QRT (quick response team) to monitor especially the mountain barangays,” he said.

Bañacia said Mabolo in the lowland area is among the areas being monitored by QRT since Mahiga Creek usually overflows when there is rain.

As standard procedure, Bañacia said responders from the barangay will have to respond first if there are any incident in their area.

Bañacia said that for Mabolo alone, the barangay has a rescue team and equipment ready to respond.

“If di na nila makaya anha na sila motawag sa City Government,” he said.

If flooding will occur, Bañacia said, City will deploy buses that will transport stranded individuals from the city proper to SM City Cebu in the north where a terminal for public utility vehicles is located, and in Barangays Bulacao, Labangon and Guadalupe in the south.