10-year-old boy drowns in Sultan Kudarat flood

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – A 10-year-old boy died when floods submerged low-lying villages of Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao and bad weather continued to affect mainland Mindanao Thursday.

The Humanitarian Emergency Assistance and Relief Team (HEART) of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao said in a press release that the fatality, Jing Laure, was swept away by floodwater after he fell while trying to climb to the roof of their house.

The HEART said 9,800 villagers in 10 barangays (villages) in Sultan Kudarat were affected by the flash floods. All of the affected areas are near rivers, which swelled and overflowed following three days of torrential rains.

The national highway linking Cotabato City to North Cotabato virtually turned into a river when water started rising at dawn Thursday. Water was still rising as of this posting.

ARMM-HEART personnel, led by Ramil Masukat, regional disaster risk reduction management officer, conducted an ocular inspection with SK Mayor Shameen Mastura.

Hundreds of families living in the interior portion of Sultan Kudarat town, beside the Rio Grande de Mindanao and south of Simuay river, have been evacuated, disaster officials said.

As in the past, floodwater may rise higher when sea water enters Rio Grande during high tide.