CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines – Incessant rains brought by a shear line have killed several residents and have damaged millions worth of properties, infrastructures, and agriculture in Northern Mindanao in the last four days.
In an online press briefing Tuesday, December 27, Gilbert Conde, Office of the Civil Defense-10 (OCD-10) assistant director, said there are nine fatalities scattered throughout the region: two from the municipality of Bukidnon, one from Gingoog City in Misamis Oriental, and six from Misamis Occidental, specifically in Jimenez and Tudela towns and Oroquieta City.
Gov. Henry Oaminal of Misamis Occidental earlier claimed seven have already died in the province.
However, according to NDRRMC’s Situational Report (SitRep) as of 6 PM Wednesday, December 28, the number of casualties is yet to be validated. It noted, though, that 18 were reported dead, eight injured, and one missing across Region 10.
The same SitRep noted that 162 villages were affected by flooding in the towns of Aloran, Clarin, Tudela, Jimenez, and Ozamiz in Misamis Occidental (MisOcc); and rains in the provinces of MisOcc, Misamis Oriental, Camiguin, Bukidnon, and Lanao del Norte.
There are 15,776 affected families or 72,767 individuals with 48,991 of them temporarily staying in the 90 evacuation centers across the region.
Houses have been damaged with an estimated worth of P41.79 million. There are 2,307 houses that were partially damaged while 305 were totally damaged.
The cost of agricultural damages reached P147.6 million with a total of 6,672 affected farmers and over 4 million hectares of the totally damaged crop area.
There were 24 damaged infrastructures with an estimated cost of over P41 million.
According to the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, the shear line that has been affecting Visayas and Northern Mindanao is expected to move towards Luzon today, December 28.
A shear line occurs when warm and cold winds meet in the atmosphere resulting in rain cloud formation. As of Tuesday evening, the NDRRMC said the effect of the shear line has weakened. (davaotoday.com)
flooding, Northern Mindanao, philippines
