CEBU. Three houses were destroyed by a landslide that hit Sitio San Miguel in Barangay Maguikay, Mandaue City following heavy rains on Monday afternoon, September 11, 2023. (Honey Cotejo)
CEBU. Three houses were destroyed by a landslide that hit Sitio San Miguel in Barangay Maguikay, Mandaue City following heavy rains on Monday afternoon, September 11, 2023. (Honey Cotejo)
A FIVE-YEAR-OLD girl died, while around 130 families or 375 individuals were displaced in flooding and landslide incidents in Mandaue City following heavy rainfall on Monday, September 11, 2023.
The child, a resident of Sitio Lourdes in Barangay Jagobiao, died after she was vacuumed inside a 300-meter culvert pipe amid heavy rains Monday.
Jagobiao Barangay Captain Micheal Macinas said Tuesday, September 12, that the girl was with her younger sibling when a slipper fell into the water near the culvert pipe. The victim tried to retrieve the slipper but she fell into the hole and was swept by strong water current.
Reports stated that the victim just went home from school with her mother and baby brother. The mother, though, did not notice the kids stopping by the pipe to play in the water.
The water in the pipe, which runs from Sitio Lourdes to Sitio Sto. Rosario, rose following the downpour Monday afternoon.
A team from the Mandaue City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (MCDRRMO), with the help of the residents, recovered the child 20 minutes later at the pipe’s end hole in Sitio Sto. Rosario.
Macinas said the residents rushed the victim to Eversley Childs Sanitarium and General Hospital, but the attending physician declared her dead.
Josephine Abasalo, 58, and Angeline Balbuena, 30, both residents of the area, said that they tried looking at the nearby canals to save the child, but she was nowhere to be found.
Abasalo and Balbuena said the child sustained bruises and several wounds on her head, while her feet were found wrapped in garbage.
Landslide
In Sitio San Miguel, Barangay Maguikay, three houses were wiped out after a landslide hit the area due to the heavy rainfall Monday.
Maguikay Barangay Captain Eduardo Gumera said the Butuanon River did not overflow, but the water’s strong current destroyed the houses that were built within the river’s three-meter easement.
Gumera said no injuries or fatalities were recorded in the incident, but 14 families or 39 individuals were evacuated to Maguikay National High School.
Gumera said the affected residents were offered cash assistance by the City through the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s Balik Probinsya program so they will vacate the area, but they returned to their houses days after receiving the cash.
Of the affected residents, Jerry Arnado, 50, said they do not want to go back to their province but wished that the City could expedite their housing projects and relocate them.
Ibabao-Estancia flooding
Also on Monday, 116 families or 336 individuals were displaced in Barangay Ibabao-Estancia due to flooding caused by clogged culvert pipes.
Residents said the water was beyond the head level and subsided the next morning.
One resident, Richard Neumeran, from Sitio Mangga, called on the Mandaue City Government for financial assistance, stressing they had not yet been given.
Ibabao-Estancia Chief Romulo Echavez said the families were evacuated to Ibabao-Estancia Gym, though some had already gone home.
Afternoon fire
In Sitio Chicosan, Lower Hermag in Barangay Tabok, a fire broke out around 4 p.m. Monday, affecting two residential buildings.
Initial investigation revealed that the fire started at the second floor of the building owned by Herminida Alevera Laspoña.
The fire was raised to second alarm but was eventually declared fire out at 4:49 p.m. The cause of the blaze is still under investigation.
Senior Inspector Ben Bradpitt Lopez, deputy city fire marshal of the Bureau of Fire Protection-Mandaue, said the fire left around P180,000 worth of damage to properties, but no injuries and fatalities were recorded. (HIC)
