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6K families displaced as flood hits DavNor town

By Che Palicte

February 15, 2021, 6:32 pm

<p><strong>FLOOD.</strong> Sto. Tomas, Davao del Norte Municipal Administrator Elisa Evangelista-Lapiña visits Barangay New Katipunan on Monday morning (Feb. 15, 2021) to check the flooding that occurred in the area. The floodwaters rendered the main road to be impassable for light vehicles. <em>(Photo courtesy of Sto. Tomas LGU)</em></p>

FLOOD. Sto. Tomas, Davao del Norte Municipal Administrator Elisa Evangelista-Lapiña visits Barangay New Katipunan on Monday morning (Feb. 15, 2021) to check the flooding that occurred in the area. The floodwaters rendered the main road to be impassable for light vehicles. (Photo courtesy of Sto. Tomas LGU)

DAVAO CITY – Flooding hit six villages in the Davao del Norte town of Sto. Tomas Sunday night leaving 6,067 families displaced from their homes.

In an interview Monday, Sto. Tomas Municipal Administrator Elisa Evangelista-Lapiña identified the six flood-stricken barangays as Barangay New Katipunan with 2,408 affected families, Barangay Kinamayan (1,575 families), Barangay San Miguel (1,131 families), Barangay San Jose (276 families), Barangay Tibal-og (565 families), and Barangay Salvacion (182 families).

“In barangay New Katipunan, the water level rise at 9 p.m. and by 11 p.m. floodwaters started to hit other barangays. The water came from Talaingod, Davao del Norte,” Lapiña told the Philippine News Agency.

Lapiña said three evacuation sites located in Barangays Poblacion, Kinamayan, and New Katipunan were immediately established.

As of 11 a.m. Monday, the Municipal Social Welfare Development Office (MSWDO) reported that displaced families have sheltered in two evacuation centers at the covered courts in Barangay New Katipunan and Barangay Kinamayan.

“To ensure the efficient and speedy delivery of aid to communities affected by the floodwater, we immediately mobilize the different offices to streamline the process of providing relief assistance and basic services to these flood-stricken barangays,” she added.

Lapiña said the local government mobilized disaster units to assist the families of Barangay New Katipunan residents whose houses were submerged in floodwaters.

She said the town’s mobile kitchen provided meals for the affected families since several houses were still submerged in the floodwater.

“We started to conduct a Rapid Damage Assessment and Needs Analysis which will serve as the basis for the immediate release of relief aid, depending on the magnitude of the flood as assessed by the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office. Right now, our priority is to feed the families, and evacuate them to a safer facility,” Lapiña said.

“We will be having a meeting this afternoon and based on the damages particularly on agriculture, there is a proposal that we will declare a state of calamity,” she added.

On the other hand, Mayor Ernesto Evangelista ordered Municipal Agriculturist chief Elmer Degorio to provide assistance to the farmers whose crops have been damaged by the flooding. (PNA)

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