COLLAPSED | A house in Purok Lower Libertad, Barangay Topland in Koronadal City is destroyed after a portion of a riverbank collapsed due to heavy flooding Sunday night. (Photo courtesy of DONDIE BAYONA)
KORONADAL CITY, South Cotabato, Philippines — Heavy rains spawned by a low-pressure area (LPA) have caused rivers here to overflow, triggering floods in different areas of South Cotabato province and displacing 33 families on Sunday night.
Rolly Doane Aquino, head of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO), said heavy flooding was reported along the riverside and lowland communities in Koronadal City and the towns of Norala, Sto. Nino, Tampakan and Tantangan in the province.
He said 27 families from Barangay Lapuz in Norala and four in Purok Lower Libertad, Barangay Topland, in Koronadal City, were forced to leave their homes on Sunday night due to the rising floodwaters while a house near the river in Barangay Topland was destroyed.
A household in Barangay Katipunan, Sto. Niño town, and another in Tantangan town were submerged in water, according to reports from the PDRRMO and the Bureau of Fire Protection.
Not passable
Aquino said a dike protection along the Marbel River in Purok Ferry, Barangay Gen. Paulino Santos in Koronadal City, had collapsed while a portion of the road and a bridge in Sitio Tucalabong, Barangay Crossing Rubber, in Tupi town was damaged by rampaging floodwater.
“The affected road [in Tupi] is still not passable as of this time and we’re working with concerned offices to address this,” he said at a briefing Monday.
The Provincial Engineering Office deployed heavy equipment to rechannel critical waterways in affected areas, he added.
Siegfred Flaviano, Provincial Environment Management Office chief, said they were currently monitoring the water level in critical waterways, particularly that of the Allah River, due to the continuing cloudy weather in the area.
The LPA was last spotted 330 kilometers east of Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur, on Monday, the weather bureau said.
Allah River, the biggest river channel in the province, traverses at least nine towns and a city in the provinces of South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat. It drains toward the Liguasan Marsh in Maguindanao and eventually to the Rio Grande de Mindanao and the Moro Gulf.
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