Flashfloods hit Compostela Valley

Saturday, August 20, 2011

PANTUKAN, Compostela Valley -- More than a hundred families were evacuated to higher grounds Thursday evening when floodwaters rose to waist level in several areas in Barangay Kingking, a known mining area in the region.

Military reports revealed that heavy rains started around 6 p.m. of August 18. Three hours after, floodwaters started to rise in 13 sitios. Among the most affected was Purok Cebuleda.

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Authorities said the water was waist-deep in most areas.

It was learned that the floodwaters accumulated in the Ayan and Bingag creeks.

A total of 26 families stayed at the municipal hall of Pantukan for the night, while 106 more families were evacuated to the Cebuleda covered court.

By 5 a.m. Friday, the water subsided and some residents already went back to their homes.

None was injured in the said incident as the authorities were quick to save the residents from the rampaging waters.

Firefighters from Tagum City brought rubber boats to help evacuate the residents.

The mountains of Pantukan have been mined for decades now by small-scale miners. Aside from the occasional flooding, landslides also happen in the area that caused several deaths in the past.

In April this year, a landslide tore through a remote mining camp in the same village, leaving at least 10 people dead and several others injured and missing.

Most of the victims in that incident were illegal gold miners and their families who have long been warned to stay away from the landslide-prone area.

The incident prompted the government to close some of the tunnels to discourage illegal mining in Pantukan, a gold-rich mountainous region about 580 miles (930 kilometers) southeast of Manila.

Sadly though, small-scale miners continue to proliferate in the province, which is said to contain the biggest mineral reserves in the country.

View Larger Map of Compostela Valley (Point A is New Bataan, while Point B is Pantukan)

Just recently, three small-scale miners also died in a landslide that struck New Bataan town, also in Compostela Valley.

Belated report showed that the landslide struck around 7 p.m. of August 16 in Sitio Tagutong, Barangay Andap in New Bataan.

The incident was reported late due to the remoteness, distance and lack of communications in the area, officials said.

The Office of Civil Defense advised the public not to live near mining sites to prevent similar incidents from happening again. (Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)