Tornado destroys Bacolod structures

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines  — A five-minute tornado hit Bacolod on a rainy Thursday, damaging several buildings and structures in its path, uprooting trees, and toppling down electric poles which caused a six-hour brownout around the area.

Joemarie Vargas, head of the Bacolod City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (BCRRMC), said the tornado hit the shopping area along B. S. Aquino Drive at around 12:30 p.m., and broke five crystal windows of the Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce building along Ipil St., uprooted big trees and toppled down electrical poles of the Central Negros Electric Cooperative, which resulted in power outage.

The brownout disrupted some graduation rites, as the area that was hit by the tornado was known as a “university belt,” radio reports said.

Vargas said an armored vehicle was damaged after a big tree was uprooted and fell on the vehicle, while two eateries (carinderias) were totally destroyed, and roofs of some houses were blown away.

It also hit the compound of the University of Saint La Salle, toppling down trees that also fell on vehicles, and causing damages to religious images in the campus.

He said two century-old trees were also uprooted inside the compound of the Montelibano family along La Salle Avenue.

Vargas reported that the tornado was first spotted by residents along Convergys Building in Lacson St. at Brgy. Mandalagan, and it headed to Hilado Street, to Capitol Shopping Center and passed through St. John’s Institute, and to the former North Terminal of Ceres Liner along Ipil Street, where majority of the damage occurred.

He said the tornado hit so fast that residents were caught unaware and did not know what to do. Susan Despi, who owns an eatery near the Ceres terminal, said the tornado happened so fast and she only saw people scampering to seek shelter near concrete establishments across the street when it happened.

Immediately after the tornado hit the area, the BCRRMC and the Chamber Volunteer Fire Brigade members cleared the area.

Vargas said it was the first tornado to hit the city proper in recent memory, although there was no reported casualty. He could not estimate the cost of damages yet, pending assessment of the affected areas.  (FREEMAN)