By MART D. SAMBALUD
Davao Today
TAGUM CITY — Floods have also hit towns in Davao Oriental, adding more to numbers displaced including Davao del Norte and Compostela Valley due to heavy rains the past week.
Reports from Davao Oriental Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction & Management Council (PDRRMC) SAID 300 houses were destroyed after a flashflood hit Brgy. Marayag, Lupon, Davao Oriental leaving five dead.
Davao Today received a text message from a resident in Cateel, Davao Oriental saying swelling rivers engulfed houses in some barangays, and destroyed three bridges. Davao Today is still confirming reports that people including children have died in Cateel.
The Compsotela Valley PDRRMC said more than 700 families have evacuated, while three died and three missing due to swelling of Manat River which traverses Nabunturan, Montevista, Monkayo and New Bataan municipalities.
In Davao del Norte, latest reports from the provincial PDRRMC said 1,117 families or 3,870 people have been displaced.
Tagum City and towns of New Corella, Kapalong and Carmen continue to experience floods.
Provincial rescue units have assisted local units in rescuing residents, particularly 188 families or 935 persons in Lumboy, Brgy. Mankilam, Tagum City and 33 families and 165 people from six barangays in Guadalupe, Carmen.
The provincial government is providing food relief to residents now staying in municipal gyms.
The bad weather and floods prompted provincial governor Rodolfo del Rosario to suspend classes from nursery to high school levels today, and said the lifting of suspension will be for the discretion of municipal mayors.
The local government in New Corella, one of the municipalities hit by the floods, has declared the town under a state of calamity.
In Tagum City, Tuganay and Pagsabangan are not passable for light vehicles.
In Kapalong, floods have reached neck-deep levels Sunday but have now receded. But residents are still packed in the municipal gym and KCAST Building.
The heavy rains also caused overflow of rivers in Agusan del Norte and Surigao del Sur.
The Office of the Civil Defense Caraga Region said around 500 families in Agusan del Norte evacuated as rivers overflowed to roads. Five persons were reported missing in Carmen, Agusan del Norte.
In Surigao del Sur, 800 residents evacuated from floods in Bislig City and San Miguel. Landslides and floods have reportedly closed portions of the highway in Barobo and Tagbina municipalities.(Mart D. Sambalud, davaotoday.com)
Agusan del Norte, compostela valley, davao del norte, davao oriental, floods, Surigao del Sur
