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Thursday, March 28, 2024

M’danao still reeling from heavy rains, flood

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COTABATO CITY—Flooding brought about by incessant rains the past three days has affected 8,692 families in five towns of Lanao del Sur.

In a report, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao–Humanitarian Emergency Action and Response Team (ARMM–HEART) identified the affected towns as Bubong, Ditsaan Ramain, Taraka, Maguing, and Kapai.

“A total of 8,962 families from 126 barangays in the five towns are currently affected,” Myrna Jocelyn Henry, ARMM-HEART information officer, said on Wednesday.

The affected families per town are as follows: Bubong (2,100); Ditsaan Ramain (2,500); Taraka (3000); Maguing (1,000); and Kapai (362).

The ARMM- HEART, however, maintained there were zero casualties and no displacement so far, despite the flooding.

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“The families decided to stay in their respective houses waiting for the water to subside,” Henry said.

The ARMM- HEART is continuously monitoring the situation as relief is being readied for the affected families. 

More than 7,000 residents from seven barangays of two municipalities in Davao del Norte were moved to safer areas after the Libuganon River overflowed caused by intermittent rains due to low pressure area and tail-end of cold front.

Cagayan de Oro City flash floods caused by a low-pressure area affecting Mindanao. Lance Baconguis

Of the seven barangays, five are in Kapalong namely Pag-Asa, Semong, Maniki, Sua-on and Florida and two barangays of Braulio E. Dujali town namely Dujali and Tanglaw.

The Davao del Norte provincial information office reported Wednesday that 730 families or 3,449 individuals in Kapalong and 3615 in B.E. Dujali are now attended to their respective evacuation areas set up by the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Councils.

Glenda Delideli, officer-in-charge of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Councils, said the provincial government was ready to augment the assistance offered to the affected municipalities.

Delideli said responders are on stand-by while needed equipment like rubber boats are ready. They are also closely monitoring the situation.

According to the provincial government, the pre-emptive evacuations were executed between 3:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. on Tuesday, as the water level in Libuganon continued to rise.

Landslides were also reported in Barangays Florida, Sua-on and Gupitan with no significant damage or casualty recorded.

Delideli also reported no casualty.

The Office of the Municipal Mayor Maria Theresa Timbolon Wednesday morning suspended classes in pre-school up to high school levels in both public and private institutions within the poblacion area. All schools in Brgy. Tanglaw have also suspended classes in all levels.

The heavy rains was brought by a low pressure area formed in Zamboanga Peninsula with a tail-end of a cold front affecting Visayas and Northern Mindanao. 

Units of the Cagayan De Oro-based 4th Infantry Division have rescued 2,577 families or 9,415 individuals during the severe weather disturbance which brought heavy rains and flooding to Northern Mindanao on Monday.

In a statement Wednesday, 4th Infantry Division spokesperson Capt. Joe Patrick Martinez said all units were deployed to support the disaster and risk reduction and management councils of various local government units.

He said these troops actively undertook humanitarian assistance and disaster response operations in affected ares in Misamis Oriental and Cagayan De Oro.

All major roads in Misamis Oriental and Cagayan de Oro City that were affected by flash floods are now passable to all types of vehicles.

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel lll on Wednesday appealed for immediate help for residents of his hometown, Cagayan De Oro City, where torrential rains Monday night caused “cataclysmic flash floods” and forced authorities to evacuate 11 barangays.

“On behalf of Cagayan de Oro, I issue this urgent appeal. The city needs every assistance that our people can give. It needs immediate support for the reconstruction of destroyed houses and other damaged buildings,” said Pimentel.

Pimentel said the affected residents need immediate food and clothing as their houses were washed away or are still submerged in waist-deep floodwater.

He thanked those who have already responded, in kind and in cash, to the city government’s appeal.

City and social welfare officials, who were first to rush to the evacuation sites, described the flood as “Ondoy”-like, a reference the rampaging floodwaters that hit Metro Manila which lay in the path Typhoon “Ondoy” in 2009.

He said swift decisive, government response saved lives—but homes and villages were washed away, creating an army of evacuees in Northern Mindanao’s premier city. He also cited the city government’s quick response that quickly evacuated thousands to safer ground to prevent a single casualty.

“It is high time that local officials revisit the city’s flood-control and infrastructure program,” he said, noting that reports saidthe city’s canals were clogged with trash.

Heavy rainwater that cascaded from the mountains and valleys of Bukidnon rose quickly, creating flash floods that caught many by surprise, including students who were stranded overnight.

The Mindanao senator said he would also talk to concerned government agencies, including the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the Department of Public Works and Highways and the Department of Health, to extend assistance to the victims.

The Office of the Senate President has launched a relief drive, called TabangCDO, which would help flood victims.

“We are putting up boxes in the Senate, at the PDP Laban headquarters in Pasay, and at Duterte’s Kitchen in Cubao, for those with goods to share with our countrymen in the affected areas,” Pimentel said.

“Let us remember that flood victims are not limited to CDO. We should ensure that we can help everyone to the best of our abilities.”

The combination of the two weather phenomena has caused floods in various areas in Visayas and Mindanao.

Cagayan de Oro City has declared a state of calamity due to the floods that devastated the city. 

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