Sunday, January 13, 2008 Farmer, 2 boys killed in floods By Mia E. Abellana Sun.Star Staff Reporter
HEAVY rains in the southern part of Cebu led to heavy flooding, traffic and three deaths.
Two persons were killed in Carcar City, while a student died in Barili town after they were washed away by strong river currents and drowned.
Rivers also overflowed in Carcar City and Barili towns, causing heavy traffic for motorists passing the highways.
In Carcar City, PO3 Jorame Tanudtanud said all police officers spent the night manning traffic and pushing vehicles that had stalled in the floodwaters.
Most multicabs and motorcycles that tried to go through the knee-deep waters ended up having engine failures and blocked the roads, he added.
That afternoon, a Grade 2 pupil and a 64-year-old farmer in neighboring mountain villages drowned.
Bernardito Lapinid was riding his carabao on his way home to Sitio Kaimong, Barangay Buenavista after a day at the farm. As he crossed the river at past 4 p.m., water from the mountain came rushing toward him, dragging him down the river.
His neighbor Adela Limbaga found him by the riverbank a few meters away.
Romnick Maning, 8, was dismissed from his classes at the Kalidngan Elementary School because of the heavy rains.
As he reached a spillway leading to his house in Sitio Luktog at 5 p.m., a gush of water from the mountain came crashing down and dragged him along with it.
He was found not far from the spillway by the riverbank.
Tanudtanud said it was possible it was the same current that dragged Lapinid and Maning.
He said Kalidngan is next to Buenavista. He said it was this gush of water the flooded Carcar City proper all afternoon up to the evening.
The river by Nellas St. overflowed, causing flooding and heavy traffic. Vehicles from as far as Naga City suffered from the traffic too.
Officials of Barangay Kalidngan, Carcar City had to pool their money to give eight-year-old Maning a proper burial.
Barangay Captain Feliciano Papellero told radio dyLA that the Maning family is very poor and could not afford to bury Romnick. They wanted to ask for help from the City Government, but the offices were closed yesterday.
Sun.Star Cebu tried calling City Mayor Patrick Barcenas but there was no answer. Papellero and the other barangay officials helped the Manings bury Romnick at 2 p.m. yesterday in the villages’s cemetery.
In Barili town, PO2 Job Sarbeda said the rains did not stop from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. that day.
Like Maning, high school sophomore Brian Seloterio, 15, was also dismissed early from his classes at the Bartolome National High School in the mountain barangay of Maigang, Barili.
He was with around six other classmates when they tried to cross the spillway.
Seloterio was the last one to cross when water came.
Relatives and volunteers searched for him all night but failed.
He was found at 8 a.m. yesterday in Barangay Ylaya, which is close to the town proper.
His mother Teresita identified him.
Sarbeda said it was the first time he saw such flooding in the town.
A damaged culvert reportedly led water from the rivers to overflow into the main highway. And just like in Carcar, vehicles on the highway were also stalled.
The weather bureau has no severe disturbances in its forecast, just scattered rains and thunderstorms. (With JGA)
