Floods displace 11,000 people in North Cotabato, Maguindanao

KABACAN, North Cotabato -- More than 11,000 people in three towns in Maguindanao and two in North Cotabato have been displaced by flash floods spawned by three days of moderate yet continuous rain in North Cotabato and Bukidnon.

Records from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Kabacan, North Cotabato showed that at least 2, 200 families have fled to higher grounds from knee-deep submerged villages of Kuyapon, Kayaga, Salapungan, Pedtad, Magatus at Nangaan.

Classes in two elementary schools in Kabacan and Datu Montawal were suspended since Monday after the flood waters from Rio Grande de Mindanao that overflowed submerged the school buildings.

Affected families have put up tents along portions of the Cotabato-Davao highway as water reached waist deep Monday morning.

Village officials have appealed to local government units to extend assistance like food and tarpaulin to shelter them from continuous rain at night.

"We could not do anything but wait for the water to subside," villager Aliudin Kamsa, a resident of Barangay Bulit, Datu Montawal, Maguindanao said.

"The water started to rise on the second day of continuous rain and it reached waist deep Monday morning," he said.

Engr. Joseph Adam, municipal engineering head of Datu Montawal, said public works office is closely monitoring the Tunggol Bridge due to rising water level of Tunggol river.

Adam said the heavy downpour in Bukidnon and the foot of the country's highest peak - Mt. Apo, triggered Rio Grande de Mindanao to overflow, affecting residential areas and huge track of rice fields in the lowlands.

Education officials in Dilangalen Elementary School in Barangay Nangaan and Kayaga Elementary School in Sitio Malabuaya, Barangay Kayaga said classes will probably resume next week since the flood water subside very slow.

Kabacan Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office Susan Macalipat said the flood water entered the two elementary school grounds on Sunday night, forcing education officials to suspend classes Monday.

Macalipat said the two schools are flood prone but not this worse.

"We have floods before in these areas but not as high as this one," she said.

Barangay Kayaga which sits beside the Kabacan River was the most affected by flooding, DSWD officials said.

Macalipat said no one was reported killed or injured in the calamity. (PNA)