Letter

1.Typhoon “URING” (Thelma)

November 2-7, 1991

URING was a weak tropical storm that moved quickly through Samar, Leyte, Cebu and Negros. But because of the heavy precipitation, rivers swelled and landslides came down in a deluge in the mid-morning of November 5 at the upper areas of Ormoc City in Leyte. The river bisecting the city burst its banks and overflowed, drowning the whole city in more than 10 feet of water laden with mud and debris. Thousands were caught flatfooted and perished. The storm then moved over Northern Cebu flooding more towns and cities.

When URING arrived at Northern Negros by early afternoon, it dumped heavy rain flooding Northern Negros, wiping out houses from their foundations along rivers in Bacolod City and Victorias while leaving others marooned in the fast rising waters of the rivers. A section of a historic bridge across Bago River was swept by raging torrents. Late that night URING unleashed landslides in the mountainous southern town of San Joaquin in Iloilo Province and as far as Calinog in Central Iloilo where large rivers destroyed bridges spanning across them, cutting off some towns from their neighbors for a few days. Almost lunchtime of November 6, the storm crossed Northern Palawan through Roxas. The storm further weakened as it exited to the South China Sea at early evening.

Ormoc City and Northern Negros Occidental were scenes of devastation as the floods receded. Almost a quarter of Ormoc's population drowned and their bloated bodies were littered everywhere in the city while other fatalities were numerously floating at Ormoc Bay and Camotes Sea being feasted by sharks and other fishes. Many journalists and eyewitnesses described Ormoc City as…

“…a scene from the Holocaust where dead bodies were stacked upon each other like logs or garbage”.

Even those watching from television footages could not help but gag, retch, get misty-eyed or even weep quietly for everything was…" truly sickening with the stench of death...