ILOILO CITY – A total of 40 houses were damaged as a tornado struck in this city and in the neighboring Oton town in Iloilo province on Tuesday, January 3.
Based on the consolidated data from the Iloilo City Operations Center, most of the damaged houses are in Arevalo district, specifically in Barangay Santo Domingo, where six houses were totally damaged and 15 partially damaged.
In Barangay Santa Cruz, six houses were totally damaged and 12 were partially damaged.
Two were also injured in Barangay Santa Cruz after an uprooted mango tree fell on their house and hit them while they were sleeping.
The Iloilo City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office identified the victims as 9-year-old Rolie Villarete and 68-year-old Vilma Villarete.
It took more than two hours for the rescuers to get the victims out of harm's way and bring them to the hospital.
In the town of Oton, 10 houses in the coastal barangay Alegre were reportedly damaged.
Affected residents are currently staying in evacuation centers. The local government’s respective social welfare offices had been mobilized to attend to the victims’ needs.