Tornado wrecks havoc in South Cotabato

Koronadal City – A strong tornado struck four farming villages in Tupi, South Cotabato at 3 p.m. Sunday, leaving two people injured and displacing 71 families with 426 dependents, a provincial official said.

Haydee Lacdoo, chief of the South Cotabato provincial welfare and development office, identified the injured victims as Evelyn Trigo and Virgie Sumangit of Barangay Palian of the said town.

Reports said falling trees hit the victims.

Lacdoo said the tornado, reportedly caused by continuous heavy rainfalls, partially damaged 69 houses and totally damaged two houses in Barangays Palian, Crossing Rubber, Lunen and Bolol Mala of the said town.

In Barangay Palian alone, a total of 58 houses were partially destroyed and damaged totally two houses there.

In Barangay Bolol Mala, nine houses were partially damaged. Only two houses were partially damaged in Barangay Crossing Rubber. In Barangay Lunen, no houses were destroyed.

Apart from the houses, agricultural crops such as corn, rice, banana, pineapple and coconuts were uprooted by the tornado when it struck the said barangays.

Several electrical and telephone posts were also damaged by the said tornado.

The tornado attack reportedly caused several hours of brownout in the affected farming villages.

Lacdoo could not yet give the exact amount of damage caused by the freak weather, citing the fact that her social workers assigned in the said town are still assessing the situation there.

But the Tupi Social Welfare and Development office initially pegged property and crops damage at more than P2-million, excluding the destroyed electrical and telephone posts.

Town officials are set to declare state of calamity to give more assistance to the victims.

Weather experts said a tornado is a violently rotating column of air rising up into a cloud.