Beset by heavy rain, poor visibility: Gwen’s chopper makes emergency landing

CEBU, Philippines —  Due to heavy rainfall and poor visibility, the chopper of Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia made an emergency landing at the Liloan town bypass road beside Pier 88, Thursday evening.

The governor, who is safe and unharmed, expressed her gratitude to the pilot for handling well their unexpected detour.

“Kudos to the pilot, Captain Randy! Masterfully handled,” she said in a Facebook post.

The governor was with her daughter, Carissa, and Board Member Minuel Carmela Franco at that time.

They flew to Bantayan Island that day to spearhead another leg of the Caravan of Government Services in Santa Fe town.

They were on their way back to the Capitol for a meeting, after several engagements on that day in Bantayan, when they had to make the stop due to the weather.

Also, Sugbo News, the official Facebook page of the provincial government, clarified in a post that the use of the chopper was courtesy of Congressman Sonny “SL” Lagon of Ako-Bisaya Partylist and that no public funds were spent for the flight.

Yesterday, Garcia flew again using the same chopper, this time to Medellin town, after a meeting at the Capitol.

Engineer Al Quiblat, Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA)-Mactan chief, told The Freeman that the heavy rainfall last Thursday was brought by localized thunderstorms.

He said they recorded 45.8 millimeters of rain for approximately two hours that day and that it could already be categorized as “heavy” to “intense” rainfall.

He said that while no low pressure area is expected to form inside the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) in the next five days, based on their tropical cyclone threat potential forecast, there is an expected intermittent or sudden downpour due to thunderstorms, with 60 to 100 percent chance of rain.

“Ang nakita gani nato sa Sunday, 100 percent ang chance nga mag-ulan, combined na ni sa mga thunderstorms ug Southwest Monsoon,” Quiblat said.

He warned that flooding and landslides could be experienced in susceptible areas.

“Di nato malikayan nga dunay kusog nga mga pag ulan nga makamugna og pagbaha ug pagdahili sa yuta sa mga prone areas,” Quiblat said. (CEBU NEWS)