LINGAYEN–arely recovering from the devastation of Typhoon Cosme on May 17, parts of the province were again hit by a natural disaster on June 4.

The capital town bore the brunt of what is believed to be an “ipo-ipo” tornado that knocked down five electric posts of the National Transmission Corp (TransCo), destroyed six houses and the elementary school in Barangay Quibaol.

The local office of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services in Dagupan City has yet to confirm whether “ipo-ipo” was indeed a tornado.

“It rained, then suddenly there was strong wind, and the next thing we learned was some houses were destroyed and electric posts uprooted”, said Councilor Gilbert Mangapot.

“Malaking-malaking pagsubok ito sa amin.Grabe,” Mayor Ernesto Castañeda Jr. said in an interview with The PUNCH.

“Ngalngalin agak la manisia,” he added.

Some 15 new G.I. sheets recently installed on the heavily damaged roof of the Quibaol Elementary School destroyed by Typhoon Cosme, were blown away.

No one was reported hurt by the tornado.

Cheryl de Guzman, a teacher from the school, also said textbooks that they managed to salvage from Cosme’s fury had been rained on again. 

“Kapapatuyo pa lang namin ng mga natirang libro, nabasa ulit dahil sa ipo-ipo,” De Guzman lamented.

Meanwhile, Engr. Gerry Torres, TransCo branch manager in the Labrador sub-station, told The PUNCH in a separate interview, that power supply was again cut off not just in Lingayen but also in the towns of Binmaley, Urbiztondo, Sta. Barbara, Calasiao and Malasiqui as well as the cities of Dagupan and San Carlos as a result of the toppled electric posts.

“Yong hindi nabuwal ni Cosme, binuwal naman ng tornado,” Torres said.

Power has since been restored in the affected areas.

In another disaster, this time man-made, the Boy Scouts of the Philippines building along Maramba Boulevard in Lingayen was gutted by fire also on Wednesday morning.#

Tornado spawns
Dagupan’s blackout

A 10-hour blackout, triggered by the tornado in Lingayen, hit Dagupan City Wednesday afternoon until  dawn the following day, plunging all areas already energized by the Dagupan Electric Corporation in pitch darkness, again.

The tornado also ripped the newly repaired roof of the Quibaol Elementary School and three houses beside the school.

An initial report from the National Transmission Commission (TransCo) said four electric poles in barangay Quibaol were toppled by the twister that swirled in the area for 10 to 15 seconds.

The electric poles toppled by the tornado carried TransCo’s transmission lines from Cadampat, Labrador to the sub-station of Dagupan Electric Corporation (Decorp) in Calasiao. But the incident also affected the lines going to the Central Pangasinan Electric Cooperative.

Electricity in Dagupan’s downtown area was restored an hour later after Decorp was fed power from TransCo’s sub-grid in San Manuel.

A report from Decorp said that since power supply from San Manuel was very limited, it had to resort to load shedding.

This led to scheduling of power outage every two hours in many parts of the city until power supply normalized at 4:30 a.m. of Thursday when the repair of the damaged transmission lines in Quibaol, Lingayen was completed. — LM

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