FAMILY EFFORT. A father-son tandem repairs their home in Pikit, North Cotabato after floodwaters begin to recede on Tuesday (Dec. 21. 2021), days after Typhoon Odette slammed the Northern Mindanao Region, devastating cities and provinces along its path. At least 19,000 individuals were affected by floods spawned by heavy rains in the province due to the typhoon. (Photo courtesy of Ameril Bacar/Pikit MDRRMO)
KIDAPAWAN CITY – The provincial government of North Cotabato is now attending to some 19,000 individuals affected by flash floods brought by heavy rains from Typhoon Odette.
“The displaced families, about 19,000 individuals from the low-lying communities in Pikit and Kabacan, have received relief goods and emergency aid from the provincial government,” said North Cotabato Governor Nancy Catamco in an interview Wednesday.
The two towns are separated by the Kabacan River, a tributary of the much larger Pulangi River that is one of the major tributaries of the Rio Grande de Mindanao, an extensive river system in Mindanao.
She said the provincial government had a hard time collating data for people affected by the floods as communications across Mindanao were down the past several days.
The governor said rescue workers and partner agencies have to rely much on two-way radio gadgets to communicate and pinpoint locations of villages affected by the floods.
Despite the floods, Catamco said the province registered “zero” casualty as she has ordered the deployment of provincial disaster relief teams before the Kabacan River overflowed four days after typhoon Odette hit the Northern Mindanao Region on December 16.
With this, affected residents of Pikit and Kabacan towns have lauded the provincial government for its preemptive action.
“The immediate response was something new to us, we have seen government relief workers already near our communities on the day the water level rose,” Abbas Saylon of Barangay Poblacion, Pikit said in the vernacular of the government response.
He noted that floods usually hit their village even if there is no heavy downpour in the province.
“The water from Agusan river causes floods in North Cotabato and Maguindanao,” Saylon said, adding that the Maguindanao marshland that also covers North Cotabato serves as a catch basin of floodwater from Agusan through the Kabacan River.
Engr. Arnulfo Villaros, warning officer of the provincial disaster unit, said North Cotabato was not along or close to the path of typhoon Odette but floods still occur due to overflowing of water in the area’s huge tributaries.
Villaros also appealed to locals living near the river banks and low-lying areas to immediately evacuate to safer grounds when the water level rises in the marshland. (PNA)
