COTABATO CITY—Floodwaters that inundated the city have subsided as thick water hyacinths clogging the mainstream waterway naturally broke up.
On Sunday, residents said they woke up early seeing the lilies gone with the current of the Rio Grande de Mindanao. But this may not be a reason for them to rejoice as more water lilies were seen coming in an aerial survey conducted by civilian and military officials.
Spectators and workers, a number of them soldiers and police-trainees, witnessed thick water hyacinths disintegrating naturally in hundreds of square meters—then drifted slowly downstream with the current.
The level of floodwaters has gone down, with the last submerged street now passable.
Classes have resumed at Notre Dame University and ND Elementary Training Department on ND Avenue, said Fr. Jonathan Domingo, head of the Oblate-run Mindanao Cross.
The evacuees have also started returning to their homes.
For weeks, hundreds of Army soldiers deployed by the 6th Infantry Division in Maguindanao worked round the clock, alongside civilians and floating heavy equipment to get rid of around 10 hectares of hyacinths that defied even two units of dredging machines called “water master.”
Maj. Gen. Rey Ardo, division chief, said there would still be “24/7 round-the-clock duty for your soldiers, for as long as the hyacinths are here.”
But a number of soldiers have complained to the Inquirer about allergies they sustained, probably of marsh- or water-borne origin.