FUNAMID MISERY Children play along a flooded road at Barangay Manicahan in Zamboanga City on Wednesday amid heavy rains in Zamboanga Peninsula. Local officials said the widespread flooding, which submerged 30 villages, surprised residents as they did not experience this in recent years. —PHOTO COURTESY OF MANICAHAN BARANGAY INFORMATION OFFICERS NETWORK
At least nine people died as heavy rains over parts of the Visayas and Mindanao this week triggered floods that submerged communities in Eastern Visayas and Zamboanga Peninsula regions, reports from local disaster response units showed.
In Mindanao, two persons drowned in Zamboanga City amid heavy flooding on Wednesday that displaced over 5,000 families, some of whom saw their houses destroyed by raging waters.
City disaster risk reduction and management officer Elmeir Apolinario identified one of the fatalities as Jaymar Sahim, 14, of Barangay Sangali, while the other, who has yet to be identified, was from Barangay Arena Blanco.
During a meeting of the provincial disaster risk reduction and management council in Zamboanga del Norte on Thursday, officials noted that three other persons died from the floods that hit the province. One was retrieved off Galas village in Dipolog City. According to Apolinario, the rains spawned by a low pressure area (LPA) flooded 30 villages in Zamboanga City.
As of 10 a.m. on Thursday, the city disaster risk reduction and management office counted 5,546 families (15,399 people) displaced by the floods. Some of them were rendered homeless after their houses were swept away by floodwaters.
Apolinario said they did not expect such a massive impact by the LPA compared to Severe Tropical Storm “Paeng” (international name: Nalgae) last October where floods displaced only over 500 families in 14 villages, although three died that time.
“We need to review our approaches this time. Most of the inundated barangays are not included in the list of perennially flooded areas,” he said.
Allan Rommel Labayog, an engineer at the satellite office here of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, noted that Zamboanga City received higher rainfall volume on Wednesday, at 90 millimeters, compared to Paeng’s rains, at only 70 mm.Samar worst hit
The magnitude of recent floods, according to Labayog, was not experienced in the past three years. “What we can do is revisit our urban plan, giving emphasis on [responding to the] flooding,” he said.
In the Visayas, at least four people died while 63,000 families were displaced in Eastern Visayas provinces as floodwater rose.
Reports said that Carlito Dagumay and his partner, Winefreda Grafil, were on a boat when it capsized in Suribao River in Borongan City, Eastern Samar, on Jan. 9. Grafil’s body was recovered two days later in the waters off Maydolong town, while Dagumay remained missing.
Sammy Losanggo, 57, died after suffering a heart attack as floodwater swamped his village in Dolores town.
In Northern Samar, Army Cpl. Jerry Palacio was swept away by heavy current while he was crossing a river in San Isidro town, while Roger Cerujano drowned in Laoang town.
Eastern Samar has been experiencing heavy rains for almost a week now. The provincial disaster risk reduction management office of Eastern Samar reported that 18 of its 23 towns were flooded.
Gov. Ben Evardone appealed to the national government to help flood-hit areas.
At the Laging Handa briefing in Malacañang on Thursday, Diego Agustin Mariano, head of the Office of Civil Defense Joint Information Center, said local governments in San Miguel, Leyte; Dolores, Eastern Samar; Gandara, Samar; and Tubod, Lanao del Norte, had declared their areas under state of calamity.
Local reports said similar calamity declarations were also made in Can-avid, Eastern Samar, and Basey, Samar.
In Bohol, at least 570 families were evacuated from 15 towns due to nonstop rains.
Gov. Aris Aumentado said low-lying areas in Bohol were flooded while some mountain villages were hit by landslides.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development said food and nonfood items worth more than P45 million had been delivered to local governments affected by heavy rains in Bicol region and provinces in the Visayas and Mindanao.
The agency said it distributed around P7.5-million worth of cash assistance and family food packs in Gingoog City during a visit by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Wednesday.