Flashfloods sweep through Bangsamoro municipalities

COTABATO CITY — Rampaging floods, spawned by recurring heavy rains since Wednesday afternoon, swept through more than 30 barangays in low-lying areas in the adjoining Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur provinces in the Bangsamoro region.

Both provinces are close to the 220,000-hectare Ligawasan Delta, a catch basin for large rivers that spring from mountain ranges in Bukidnon, Maguindanao del Sur, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Cotabato provinces.

Among the areas badly hit by floods are Tambunan in Talayan, Maguindanao del Sur and Nituan in Parang, Maguindanao del Norte and in parts of Cotabato City.

Rivers crisscrossing barangays at the border of Maguindanao del Sur and Sultan Kudarat province in Region 12 also overflowed, inundating nearby villages.

Army Major Gen. Jose Vladimir R. Cagara, commander of the Army’s 6^th Infantry Division, and Brig. Gen. Christopher M. Abecia, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, separately activated early on Thursday emergency teams, composed of personnel of units under them, to respond to flood-related emergencies anywhere in areas within their jurisdiction.

Rivers in hinterlands in the adjoining South Upi and Upi towns, in Maguindanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte provinces, respectively, also overflowed as a result of recurring torrential rains since Wednesday, Froilyn T. Mendoza, parliament member, said.

She said shanties in Sitio Ilak in Barangay Kuya in South Upi of two ethnic Teduray farmers, Loncio Masandil, Jr. and Roberto Pasignahin, and Benita Untal Ravelo and her sister, Grace, were destroyed by flashfloods.

Radio reports on Thursday morning stated that more than 700 families in three barangays in Malaybalay City in Bukidnon province in Region 10 were forced to relocate to high grounds due to flashfloods.

In the seaside Lebak town in Sultan Kudarat, civilian emergency responders and personnel of a Philippine Coast Guard relocated on Thursday morning 15 families to safe areas from the flooded Barangay Barurao 1 in the area. — John Felix M. Unson