30,000 villagers flee floods in Davao Norte

TAGUM CITY—Heavy rains since Tuesday turned more than a dozen villages in Davao del Norte into virtual water worlds, officials said yesterday.

In the rice-producing town of Carmen town alone, waist-deep water dumped by the swollen Lasang River drove about 30,000 people from 16 villages to safer grounds, Octavio Valle, municipal administrator, said.

“Hectares of rice lands were also submerged,” Valle said.

He said the water level in some areas subsided as of yesterday but majority of the flooded villages remained under knee-deep water.

“We were surprised by the severity of Tuesday’s flooding even if Carmen is considered a flood-prone area. In the last six years, this was the heaviest yet,” Valle said.

He said officials were thankful nobody died or was harmed in the flooding.

Valle said the local government was preparing to declare the municipality under a state of calamity.

This, he said, would facilitate the speedy release of needed funds for relief efforts.

Sonio Sanchez, Davao del Norte disaster risk management officer, said in Braulio Dujali town, some 1,500 people were also driven from their homes by rising flood waters.

Floods were also reported in some areas of Panabo City, Sanchez said.

He said the amount of damage wrought by the floods has yet to be ascertained.

The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said bad weather may last until the weekend and floods should be expected in low-lying areas of Southern Mindanao. Frinston L. Lim, Inquirer Mindanao