Typhoon Tino's Destructive Dawn Landing in Cebu
Typhoon Tino made a dangerous landfall in Cebu Province during the early hours of Tuesday, November 4, 2025, catching residents at their most vulnerable. The storm arrived just as the Visayan Electric Company cut power in many areas, plunging communities into darkness amidst continuous heavy rain. This combination made Tino's entry particularly perilous, leading to swollen rivers and severe flooding across numerous barangays.
Rescue Operations and Tragic Landslide
On Thursday, November 6, rescue teams retrieved the bodies of at least three members of a single family after a devastating landslide buried their home in Barangay Sapangdaku, Cebu City. The tragedy occurred during the peak of Tino's onslaught. Veteran radioman Paul Lauro provided critical on-the-ground reports via radio dyHP, detailing the rescue efforts in Sapangdaku and other affected Cebu City barangays.
The author, a former resident familiar with Sapangdaku's terrain, described the barangay as bordering Guadalupe and sitting at the "hem" of the city's upland areas. The river that runs from Sapangdaku through Kalunasan, Guadalupe, Capitol Site, Sambag 1 and 2, down to Calamba and the coastal areas of Pasil and Carbon, swelled dangerously during the typhoon.
A Personal Connection to the Disaster Zone
The narrative includes personal recollections of the author's younger years, crossing the Sapangdaku river daily to attend the Cebu City National Science High School. The author recalls constant warnings about the river's sudden swelling, even without lowland rain, if it was raining in the mountains—a foreshadowing of the destructive power unleashed by Typhoon Tino.
While the weather bureau had placed Toledo and other southern Cebu towns under Signal 4, the author noted some relief as Tino's tracked path moved from the Samar area towards northern Cebu, away from their southern location.
