Tuguegarao mayor: Lawin damaged some evacuation centers

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TUGUEGARAO CITY, Philippines – Several evacuation centers in this city have been damaged by strong winds, Mayor Jefferson Soriano told Rappler shortly after midnight on Thursday, October 20.

In a phone interview, Soriano said the roofs of some evacuation centers in the barangay (village) of Carig were blown off, leaving the evacuees “unsafe.”

But the mayor said they could not go immediately to the affected shelters.

“We tried to go out a while ago, but the winds are really strong,” Soriano said in a mix of Filipino and English.

Whistling winds have been persistent since 9 pm on Wednesday, October 19. 

Soriano said Lawin, which hit land in Cagayan as a super typhoon but has since been downgraded to a typhoon, could be the worst cyclone he has ever felt in Tuguegarao.

Some residents in the city and in nearby towns are reporting that their houses were damaged.

Benjie De Yro, a resident of Barangay Annafunan West, told Rappler that his neighbors’ houses have been affected.

“Dami na ag nawalan ng bubong dito sa Annafunan. Yung isa, totally wiped out ang bubong, binutas ng sanga ng narra bubong ko,” De Yro said early Thursday.

(A lot of people have lost the roofs of their houses. One was totally wiped out. A narra branch pierced mine.) – Rappler.com