Police officer among missing in Bukidnon due to typhoon Sendong

TAGUM CITY, Davao del Norte, Philippines – At least 15 people have died and dozens others, including a police officer, are missing in the floods spawned by typhoon Sendong (international codename: Washi) that hit Bukidnon province late Friday, according to disaster officials.

Eleven people died in Baungon municipality alone, while four others drowned in Libona town as rivers burst due to torrential rains and floods submerged 32 villages until Sunday, Arsenio Alagenio, provincial disaster risk reduction management head said.

One of those missing as of Sunday has been identified as a certain Inspector Peñaflor, leader of a nine-man rescue team from the police regional office in northern Mindanao, who was swept by floodwaters as he crossed the Bubunawan river which separated Baungon and Libona towns, Alagenio said.

“We hiked to assess the situation in Libona after being stuck in Baungon and were about to cross the river when rushing floodwaters suddenly came and washed him away,” Alagenio recounted, adding they had to turn back as the Bubunawan River overflowed, posing danger to the entire group of provincial disaster officials and rescuers trailing the police official.

Some of the rescuers and the rest of the police team opted to search for Peñaflor, but only his pack bag turned up. “His head bobbed twice as he was swept by the rampaging river, and moments later he was gone,” the disaster official said, adding that an overnight search for the policeman also yielded nothing.

Flooded roads and destroyed bridges hampered the delivery of foodstuff and other assistance that officials had to ask the help of Philippine Air Force helicopters to drop supplies and transport rescue volunteers, Alagenio told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by mobile phone.

All of the victims died from the flood although minor landslides throughout the land-locked province were reported. Alagenio said some of the dead were swept out to sea and were found among the casualties in Bonbon, Cagayan de Oro City.

As of Sunday, floodwaters had subsided, but the disaster had affected 16 villages in Baungon, nine in Valencia City and seven in Libona, Alagenio said.