Sunday, June 22, 2008 Flashfloods leave 10 dead, 20 missing
KIDAPAWAN CITY -- Ten persons died and at least 20 others were missing when raging waters swept towns of Maguindanao and Shariff Kabungsuan since Friday night.
Regional Disaster Coordinating Council (RDCC) in Central Mindanao issued this report Saturday.
Joy Rafsing, a village leader in Barangay Kuya in South Upi, Shariff Kabungsuan, said that of the 10 fatalities, three were children identified as Anne Daraf Espartero, 8, and her sibilings, Em-Em, 4, and Gie-Gie. Their mother also died and their bodies were found two kilometers away from their residence.
Rafsing said there were still five people on top of a hill surrounded by floodwaters. "We can only wave at them from another hill," she said.
Engineer Norie Unas, provincial administrator of Maguindanao, said the level of Rifao River in Barangay Kuya rose so high, sweeping away the houses of the villagers at past midnight Friday.
Meanwhile, at least 10 members of two families in Raradangan and Mirasol villages in Alamada, also a hinterland in North Cotabato, were believed to be swept by flashfloods when Raradangan River overflowed, reports from the office of the Alamada municipal government said.
Colonel Julieto Ando, spokesman of the Army's 6th ID, said that at least 5,000 villagers from the affected towns vacated their homes due to flashfloods triggered by heavy downpour since Thursday.
Towns of Isulan, Esperanza, and Tacurong City in Sultan Kudarat and nearby towns of Talayan, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Shariff Aguak, and Ampatuan in Maguindanao were also inundated when Ala River, one of the largest rivers in Mindanao, overflowed.
Also in Guindulungan town in Maguindanao, Mayor Datu Antao Midtimbang, chair of the local disaster coordinating council, said the flashfloods struck seven villages in his town, affecting some 2,000 thousand villagers.
In Sultan Kudarat town in Shariff Kabungsuan, more than 300 families were displaced after the Simuay River traversing several villages in Sultan Kudarat town overflowed due to heavy rains the past 24 hours.
Officials of the Department of Agriculture (DA) in Central Mindanao and in the Armm said more than P30 million worth of harvestable rice and corn crops were also swept away by the raging waters.
Civil relations chief of the Army's 6th ID said soldiers manning detachments along the Cotabato-General Santos Highway were forced to close to traffic a portion of the thoroughfare in Guindulungan, Maguindanao after big rivers there also overflowed.
Rescue and relief efforts are also underway, said Bai Fatima Sinsuat of the Philippine National Red Cross.
"We had already dispatched our rescuers to areas hit by the flashfloods," said Sinsuat, adding that her office is monitoring the floods hour-after-hour.
Local authorities were also forced to close portions of the Cotabato-Davao Highway, particularly in Libungan town, due to floods. (Malu C. Manar)
