The Fury of Sendong

MISAMIS ORIENTAL

THE RAGE OF nature took Mindanao apparently by surprise.

For the first time in its history as a province, Misamis Oriental succumbed to the fury of Sendong that even Mindanao never faced before. It faced storms only at a rate of one every 12 years. And devastation fell mostly at the city of Cagayan De Oro. But deaths also occur in the nearby Iligan City. As of the latest count (December 21), official death toll runs at 1,002 people, 650 coming from Cagayan De Oro City, and 283 from the nearby Iligan City.

American meteorologist, Jeff Masters, considered the tropical stormed, nicknamed internationally as Washi, as the world's deadliest storm in 2011, surpassing Brazil and Thailand in casualties (902 and 657, respectively).

The United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) noted that Sendong already packed 50 millimeters of rainwater a day before it struck on December 16 (Friday). The amount almost equalled that of Ondoy in 2009, but much deadlier to the lives for many factors still under investigation.

So Much Outpour

Reports indicated that the flood rose to 181 meters only in an hour. Thae flashfloods that unleashed along the riversides caught the victims in a sleep they would no longer wake from.

Aftermath

CDO Archbishop Antonio Ledesma called on President Benigno S. Aquino III to create the River Basin Management Council to implement the River Basin Plan to prevent the present scale of devastation to life and property from happening again.

Sources

Jojo Malig: "'Sendon,' world's deadliest storm in 2011," ABS-CBN News 20 December 2011
______: "Church call for creation of Oro basin management council," SunStar CDO 20 December 2011