CONTRARY to the claims of many affected families in the recent severe urban flooding that hit the southern portions of Davao City, the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (CDRRMO) clarified in a special presser that residents may not heard the sirens due to the heavy downpour that lasted for almost two hours.
CDRRMO head Alfredo Baluran said on November 9 that there is no truth to claims that the city did not blow the alarm.
“Walay kamatooran nga wala nitingog ang siren. Naa tay siren, always gyud na. Siguro, wala lang gyud sila kadungog sa early alarm system gumikan kana sa kusog nga pagbundak sa ulan apilan pa gyud og grabe nga dalogdog. Kung atoang huna-hunaon, ang ulan dugay kaayo nahuman, sobra duha ka oras (There is no truth that the siren was not activated. We always activate our siren. Maybe they just didn't hear the early alarm system because of the heavy downpour and loud thunder. If we think about it, the rain persisted for a long time, more than two hours),” he said.
In a separate interview, the official also emphasized that no tornado occurred in severely hit areas and that the heavy rainfall was due to the Easterlies/localized thunderstorms, causing the Talomo-Lipadas river to overflow on Wednesday night, November 8.
The same reason was also announced and posted in the bulletin of the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC).
“Wala gyuy buhawi nga nahitabo. Maybe kusog ang hangin because again, naga-transition na ta. Naa na ta sa Amihan nga season. Kusog ra gyud ang ulan that time. Wala man pud tay na record nga buhawi (There was no tornado at all. Maybe the wind was strong because again, we are transitioning. We are entering the Northeast Monsoon. It was raining very heavily at that time. There was no record of tornadoes) Baluran added.
Based on the Rapid Damage Assessment and Needs Analysis (RDANA), almost 6,000 affected families were from Talomo specifically in Barangay Bago Gallera, Bago Aplaya, Talomo Proper, Matina Aplaya, Maa, Bali-ok, and Barangay Sto. Nino in Tugbok District. DEF
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