Tacloban mayor: It was hard to explain storm surge to public before Yolanda's landfall

(Updated 4:40 p.m.) Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez on Monday admitted that his government found it difficult to explain what a storm surge was to his constituents before Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) ravaged through their area last month.

This was despite an infographic posted by the national government on its web portal two days before Yolanda made landfall explaining what a storm surge is and its possible effects on residents living in coastal areas. 

 

During a post-disaster assessment at the Senate, Romualdez said PAGASA informed the local government of the possibility of massive storm surge due to Yolanda before the typhoon made landfall.

 

He, however, said that local government officials could not explain the storm surge to the public, since they were only used to tsunami warnings.

 

"There was a difficulty in explaining to the public what a storm surge is. We were aware of the height, but not the strength," Romualdez said.

 

He added that his government was unaware how far the storm surge will go inland.

 

"I just saw that there was no more peninsula. It was already part of the ocean," he said.

 

Close to 6,000 individuals have been confirmed dead after Yolanda ripped through central Philippines last month. Tacloban City in Leyte was among the areas worst hit by the typhoon.

 

Some 2.6 million families were affected, and P35.5 billion worth of properties were damaged by the weather disturbance, based on latest government records. — RSJ, GMA News