2 dead in latest floods; 80 rescued
A 5-year-old boy drowned in Dagami town, Leyte province, while a 50-year-old man was killed in a landslide in Calatrava town, Negros Occidental province, on Tuesday as a result of incessant rains.
A child was reported missing in Tanauan town, Leyte.
At least 80 children were rescued in the town of Kapalong, Davao del Norte province, after they were trapped by floods on Tuesday.
Kapalong Mayor Edgardo Timbol said the children were from Tagum City and were attending a youth camp in Barangay (village) Florida when the floods struck.
Heavy rains, triggered by a low-pressure area, have flooded large swaths of northern Mindanao, displacing thousands of families.
Continuous heavy rains have also caused flooding in various areas in northern Negros Occidental, Ormoc City, Leyte province and Southern Leyte on Tuesday affecting more than 5,000 families. The flooding destroyed some houses, stalled traffic for hours and triggered landslides.
Worst-hit areas
About 2,522 families were affected by floods in Negros Occidental, 2,748 families in Leyte, 138 families in Ormoc City and 74 families in Southern Leyte.
Among the worst-hit areas were in Sagay City where more than 1,000 families from six barangays were evacuated due to a swollen Himogaan River, Sagay City Mayor Rafael Cueva said.
Esperedion Pelaez, Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) action officer, said the flooding in 36 villages in Capiz province started to subside on Wednesday.
The two fatalities were identified as Jassen Bacati and Fernando Yangco.
Bacati reportedly drowned while his family was on the way out of their house in Dagami town Tuesday morning to escape the rampaging floodwaters that hit their village.
Swept away
Marcela Pagasartonga, administrator of the Leyte chapter of the Philippine Red Cross, said the boy’s father was holding the victim when the floodwaters swept the boy away.
The boy’s body was recovered by a rescue team, composed of the local police and members of the Red Cross, more than 20 meters away from the house at around 3 p.m. Tuesday.
The missing child was identified as April Jake Eyas, 12, from Barangay Licud, Tanauan, Leyte.
The child was with her companions, Raffy James Pedrosa, 13; Arvin Briton, 12; Fidel Palaña, 15, and Marjorie Arevalo, 12.
Rose Advincula, of the Tanauan local disaster risk reduction and management council, said the five children went out to swim in the sea off Barangay Santo Niño at around 11 a.m. Tuesday.
However, strong waves overwhelmed the children. The Tanauan Rescue Team rescued the four children on the same day but could not find Eyas.
Houses destroyed
In Barangay Florida in Kapolong town in Davao del Norte, four houses were destroyed as the Saug, Ilog and Libuganon rivers overflowed, Timbol said.
About 300 families were evacuated and are now temporarily staying at the Kapalong municipal gym, he said. A state of calamity has been declared in Kapalong.
Eric Rosillo of the Davao del Norte PDRRMC said a total of 1,762 families had been evacuated province-wide due to the floods.
Davao del Norte Vice Gov. Victorio Suaybaguio Jr. on Wednesday ordered the provincial social welfare and development office to send food, medicines and bottled water to residents in evacuation centers in Kapalong, Asuncion and New Corella towns.
Suaybaguio said the flooding had destroyed 328 hectares of rice lands, banana plantations and other crops in the province.
Pulangui River
In Bukidnon province, some 400 families were also assisted in their evacuation by Valencia City authorities after the Pulangui River swelled and submerged several villages on Tuesday, Arsenio Alagenio, Bukidnon PDRRMC officer, said.
Alagenio said some residents living on the banks of the swollen river were trapped when the water level suddenly rose. They were rescued by Philippine Air Force personnel. The residents started to return home Wednesday.
In the Caraga region, most of the 55,781 people who fled the floods have also started returning home, according to Blanche Gobenciong, regional director of the Office of the Civil Defense.
Relief assistance is being extended to those still in evacuation centers in the two Agusan provinces, two Surigao provinces and Dinagat province, Gobenciong said. “The needs of the evacuees are being addressed by concerned government agencies,” she said.
In Cotabato City, hundreds of residents of Punol Island—a sandbar that formed over time—have been evacuated following the swelling of the Pulangui River.
The Pulangui River is part of the system that supplies water to the Rio Grande de Mindanao, which empties into the sea off Cotabato City.
Mayor Japal Guiani Jr. said that apart from Punol residents, families living in the low-lying villages of Poblacion 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7 were also evacuated.
The residents were temporarily housed at Cotabato City Central Elementary School and at the Mega Market area.
“This is disaster preparedness in case the floodwaters come at night. We don’t want the experience of our neighbors in Cagayan and Iligan repeated because they were caught flat-footed,” said Sam Mundas, the city’s action officer.
Disaster-response teams
In Magpet, North Cotabato province, Mayor Efren Piñol ordered village officials to activate their disaster-response teams in anticipation of landslides due to the abnormal weather pattern.
Piñol said the villages of Manobisa, Imamaling, Ilian, Magcaalam, Bongolanon, Bantac, Pangao-an, Sallab and Doles had been identified as landslide-prone areas.
He said residents living near creeks had also been warned of possible floods because of the torrential rains. Reports from Joey Gabieta, Carla Gomez, Felipe Celino and Elvie Roman Roa, Inquirer Visayas; and Frinston Lim, Franklin Caliguid, Cai Panlilio, Germelina Lacorte, Charlie Señase and Williamor Magbanua, Inquirer Mindanao
