Friday, November 22, 2013

Continuous rains bring floods to DavSur, DavOc towns

DAVAO CITY, Davao del Sur, Nov. 22 (PIA) – The continuous rains due to the Low Pressure Area (LPA) that affected the region starting late last night until early afternoon today brought flooding to some towns in Davao del Sur and Davao Occidental.

Reports gathered from the local Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office action officers and local government information officers, the affected towns include Malalag of Davao del Sur, and Don Marcelino, Malita, and Sta. Maria, Davao Occidental.

The MDRRMO in Malalag undertook forced evacuation of residents from Purok 2, Barangay Baybay when water overflowed from the river banks causing the flashflood this morning.

MDRRMO action officer Francisco Javellana, Jr. said the evacuees were temporarily housed at the evacuation center at barangay gym of Brgy. Poblacion.

“The water subsided early afternoon, but we still could not allow the evacuees to return home until the weather condition has stabled, especially that they (affected residents) are living near the river banks” Javellana said.

He bared that the evacuees were among the estimated 600 affected families coming from barangays Kaputian, Poblacion, Bulacan, Baclayon and Pito which were also flooded.

Javellana said the MDRRMO has purchased food relief for the evacuees.

In Don Marcelino, residents living near Lawa River in Barangay Lawa were evacuated to safer grounds, mostly to their relatives’ houses, after the river overflowed due to heavy downpour since early this morning.

Don Marcelino MDRRMO action officer Maya Johnson said they headed a bayanihan in Sitio Looban, Brgy. Lawa, in removing kangkong plants to clear the water passages.

The bridge in Lais which connected Don Marcelino to Malita town was damaged and was not passable as of the moment, Johnson said.

Malita information officer Alona Estrella said two houses were swept away by flood water in Brgy. Macol, adding though that there was no reported casualty in the incident.

She bared that seven barangays in the northern part of Malita experienced brownout after two power posts of the Davao del Sur Electric Cooperative (DASURECO) fell down.

The post in Brgy. Felis fell due to the strong flow of flood water coming from Barangay Pangaleon and the other post in at Sitio Centro Barangay Lagumit was fell on by a tree.

The barangays affected by the power outage were Felis, Bolila, Sangay, Kilalag, Demoloc, Tubalan and Buhangin.

Estrella said the heavy downpour came from the upland areas which caused flooding in the low land.

She added that the MDRRMO team was deployed to different areas together with the Malita Anti-Crime and Emergency Force (MACEF) to monitor disaster incidents especially in the upland areas.

The LGU and MDRRMC of Malita town also advised their constituents especially those living near the iver and upland areas to monitor heavy rain, for possible flooding and landslides.        

Capt. Aldrin Moral of the 39th Infantry Battalion also reported flooding incidents in the barangays of Buka, Pongpong, San Isidro and part of Basiawan and Kidadan, all of the municipality of Sta. Maria.

Meanwhile, Sta. Cruz Mayor and MDRRMC chair Atty. Joel Ray Lopez ordered cancellation of classes at all levels in the municipality as of 11am of November 22 due to continuous rain and Pagasa advisory, said municipal information officer Julius Paner.

The PDRRMC headed by Acting governor and board member Nonito Llanos III conducted an emergency meeting in the morning today relative to the weather condition that the province has experienced and the reported flooding incidents, said Digos City CDRRMO staff Marden Gomez. (PIA-11/Carina L. Cayon)

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