State of calamity up in Sarangani town

GENERAL SANTOS CITY — Officials in Maitum, Sarangani province, declared the town under a state of calamity on Thursday due to the destruction wrought by heavy flooding and landslides early this week that hit 15 of its 19 villages.

Raymund Mayled, head of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, said the town council issued the calamity declaration in a special session on Thursday to facilitate the release of additional calamity funds to address the situation.

Mayled said the local government allotted P4.57 million from its quick response fund for relief operations and other needs.

He said Maitum Mayor Alexander Bryan Reganit and members of the town’s disaster response council endorsed the move in a meeting on Wednesday night.

Parts of Maitum, including its “poblacion” (town center), were submerged in floodwaters late Tuesday afternoon after several major rivers overflowed following over two hours of heavy rains that started around 2 p.m.

Mayled said hardest hit were areas traversed by the Pangi River, especially the villages of Kalaong, Ticulab, Upo, and Kalaneg.

As of 3 p.m. Thursday, he said a total of 1,829 households from 15 barangays were affected by the floods. He said 223 families, or 923 people, were either evacuated or rescued at the height of the floods on Tuesday night but only 30 families remained at the municipal gymnasium.

Mayled, in a telephone interview, said the floods damaged around P130 million worth of infrastructure, including at least three bridges and portions of provincial and national roads. Crop losses were pegged at P15 million.

Reganit, in a local radio interview, said among those damaged by the floods were structures in ecotourism resorts, including the site of the town’s popular white water river tubing in Barangay New La Union, and residential communities.

In Barangay Kalaong, for instance, he estimated that around 90 percent of houses were submerged.

“I think it was the worst flooding that we experienced here in Maitum,” Reganit said.

He said disaster response teams had difficulty reaching some of the remote villages as landslides blocked roads, although clearing operations were underway.

Mayled said the local government had released food and other relief assistance to the affected households.

Work, classes suspended

In Zamboanga del Norte province, Dipolog City Mayor Darel Uy ordered on Thursday the suspension of work in national and local offices as well as in business establishments due to flooding spawned by continuous rains. Uy also suspended the holding of in-person classes.

Rescuers evacuated families in the low-lying villages of Dicayas, Turno, and Minaog early on Thursday.

Work and classes were also suspended in Dapitan City and Mutia town.

Nelson Quimiguing, Dapitan City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management officer, said there were evacuations in eight villages but as of Thursday noon, the families had returned home.

A resident in Mutia told the Inquirer that the town’s five rivers swelled. The approach to one bridge was damaged by floodwaters and strong current, making it only passable by light vehicles.

Forced evacuations were done in several flood-hit villages in Misamis Occidental province on Wednesday night. —WITH A REPORT FROM GUALBERTO LAPUT

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