INUNDATED. Heavy downpours in Kabacan, North Cotabato (left) and Pagalungan, Maguindanao del Sur inundate residential and agricultural areas on Wednesday (June 22, 2023). The heavy rains, brought by the ITCZ, caused rivers and waterways to overflow, affecting at least 1,000 families in the two provinces. (Photos from MDRRMO of Kabacan and Pagalungan)
KABACAN, North Cotabato – At least 1,000 families have been affected by flash floods in low-lying towns of North Cotabato and Maguindanao del Sur due to heavy downpours brought by the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) in the past two days.
Disaster workers were still validating the exact number of individuals displaced by flash floods when the Kabacan River overflowed and submerged residential areas and in the towns of Kabacan and Pikit in North Cotabato.
The floods also hit the neighboring municipalities of Pagalungan and Pagagawan in Maguindanao del Sur.
Rosalie Badoy, Kabacan action officer of the municipal disaster risk reduction and management office (MDRRMO), said among the inundated areas were the villages of Plang, Poblacion, and Aringgay where the water level rose to as high as 10 feet (3.05 meters).
“The water started to rise at past midnight of Wednesday after a daylong moderate to heavy downpour,” Badoy said in a statement. “Validation is still ongoing as to the number of affected families.
The local government has begun sending food packs to displaced families now housed in village-covered courts.
Kabacan Mayor Gerlyn Guzman thanked the rescue teams from the nearby towns of Carmen and Matalam for rescuing families trapped due to the sudden rise of floodwater.
In Magpet, North Cotabato, Donald Homez, MDRRMO chief, appealed to residents to refrain from crossing rivers when the floodwater reached critical level.
Homez issued the call after a farmer tried to cross the Magpet River at the height of Tuesday’s downpour and drowned. His remains were later fished out downstream.
In President Roxas town, motorists were stranded for several hours on Wednesday after rampaging floodwaters partly damaged a detour bridge beside the main bridge undergoing repair in Barangay del Carmen.
Meanwhile, in Maguindanao Sur, large tracks of rice fields were inundated when the Malitubog-Maridagao River and adjoining Kabacan River overflowed, converting low-lying areas in the towns of Pagalungan and Pagagawan into a sea.
No casualty was reported so far in the two Maguindanao towns.
Agriculture officials in the adjoining provinces were still evaluating the extent of damage to crops and livestock. (PNA)
