THE deadly aftermath of Typhoon Tino in Cebu on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, has done more than just cause destruction — it has brutally exposed how rapid, unregulated development has redrawn the city’s risk map. The tragedy lies not just in the storm’s power, but the fact that the worst destruction and loss of life occurred in areas once considered safe from flooding, forcing a difficult reckoning with decades of poor land-use decisions.
Tino’s deadly toll
Typhoon Tino struck Cebu early Tuesday morning, making landfall in Borbon. As of the afternoon, the storm had claimed at least 48 lives across Cebu City (nine), Mandaue City (nine), Danao City (eight), Compostela (15) and Talisay City (seven), with an additional 28 individuals still missing in Cebu City’s upland Barangay Bacayan.
Cebu City: Fatalities were recorded across various barangays, including Cogon Pardo, Guadalupe, Bacayan, Sapangdaku, Talamban, Poblacion Pardo and Kalunasan.
Mandaue City: The fatalities included men and women in Barangays Tabok, Paknaan, Cabancalan, Umapad and Canduman.
The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office confirmed six deaths in Danao City but did not specify the affected barangays.
The immediate priority remains rescue, relief and clearing operations, with thousands of families evacuated and vast areas left without power and stable communication. In Lapu-Lapu City, preemptive evacuations of over 30,000 individuals from coastal areas were credited with helping to avoid fatalities.
The new reality of flooding in Cebu
The crucial takeaway from Typhoon Tino is that the areas that suffered the most are what officials are now calling “new flood zones.”
Upland development worsens flash floods
In Cebu City, the destruction was most severe in the upland barangays of the north district, such as Bacayan, where the Butuanon River overflowed, and other areas like Talamban and Basak Pardo. This is a dramatic shift from historical patterns.
Councilor Joel Garganera, who chairs the committee on environment, directly links the disaster’s severity to rapid urbanization and the loss of natural barriers. He notes that the increase in cemented roads, subdivisions and the depletion of forest cover in the mountain barangays have severely disrupted the city’s natural drainage system.
The land, which lacks enough trees to absorb rainfall, can no longer soak up water from the mountains. This triggers the massive and strong water current that hit areas like Bacayan, where Mayor Nestor Archival estimated around half the village was flooded, catching residents off guard, many of whom had never experienced flooding in 35 years.
The unprecedented rainfall and river overflow caused floodwaters to reach the second floors of homes by 4 a.m., destroying vehicles that subsequently blocked doors and hindered rescue efforts.
Cities scramble to respond
About 50 percent of Cebu City’s barangays were affected by the flooding, with Mayor Archival estimating that around 200,000 houses citywide were damaged or inundated. Landslides also occurred in mountain barangays like Busay and Lusaran.
In the province, Gov. Pamela Baricuatro expressed the difficult reality of communication lines being down across several towns, with only Talisay City Mayor Gerald Anthony “Samsam” Gullas initially reachable. The governor had to redeploy heavy equipment from the north, previously used after the Sept. 30 earthquake, to assist badly-hit areas in the south like Talisay. This highlights the fragility of disaster response coordination when infrastructure fails.
Why It matters: Stakes for Cebuano life
The storm’s true impact lies in what it means for the safety and future development of Metro Cebu.
Redefining “High-Risk”: The fact that areas like Bacayan — which had not flooded in decades — were hit the hardest means residents across the city can no longer rely on past experience to gauge their safety. This forces a complete re-evaluation of where people live and build.
A Call for Long-Term Planning: The disaster reignites the long-standing debate over environmental enforcement. Councilor Garganera’s call for immediate, long-term rehabilitation efforts, including reforestation, waterway restoration and strict enforcement against settlements along rivers, is a direct challenge to past government policies. Governor Baricuatro echoed this sentiment, publicly questioning, “Where are the flood control projects?”
Competing perspectives on the catastrophe
The event has led to contrasting interpretations of the disaster response and its causes.
Blaming Unregulated Development: Officials like Garganera and Archival frame the issue as a failure of environmental protection and land-use planning. Garganera’s statement, “The volume of water we’re seeing now is no longer normal,” points to climate change combined with local ecosystem destruction.
Praising Preparedness: Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Ma. Cynthia “Cindi” Chan’s team, on the other hand, championed their preemptive action under the banner “ANDAM: Ang Nasayod Dili Angay Mahadlok” (Those Who Know Should Not Be Afraid). Their success in evacuating over 30,000 people without a recorded fatality offers a model of proactive local disaster management.
The Public’s Shock: The governor noted that many Cebuano netizens initially thought the province was “over-prepared” by preparing days before the storm, only to be overwhelmed by the reality of the flash flooding, underscoring the gap between public perception and the scale of the actual threat.
Forward look: The path to recovery and reform
The immediate focus for Cebu City remains clearing debris in the mountain barangays to allow relief trucks to reach isolated communities and ensuring basic necessities like puso (hanging rice) are cooked for the over 17,000 evacuees.
Moving forward, the conversation is shifting from immediate relief to fundamental change:
What’s Next for Land-Use Policy: The pressure is on city and provincial officials to not only restore essential services but to initiate the long-term, politically difficult work of strictly prohibiting settlements along riverbanks and implementing large-scale reforestation projects.
Restoring Critical Infrastructure: Instability in the power supply and weak communication signals in upland barangays will force a review of the resiliency of essential utilities to ensure first responders aren’t forced to rely on radio communication alone during future disasters.
Typhoon Tino has effectively served as a devastating stress test on Cebu’s urban landscape. The next phase will determine whether the cities will simply rebuild what was lost or fundamentally change how they grow to prevent the creation of more deadly “new flood zones.” / CAV, CDF, DPC, ABC