DAVAO CITY (Updated) -- At least two men were reported missing and more than 2,400 villagers were evacuated over the weekend after two days of rains flooded low-lying villages and set off minor landslides in Mindanao, officials said Sunday.
The men went missing while separately crossing rivers in the provinces of Agusan del Norte and Surigao del Norte, said Liza Mazo, a regional disaster-response official.
Heavy rains set off flooding in four provinces and on an island in the region, prompting army troops, police and local authorities to evacuate more than 2,400 villagers, she said.
Many of those evacuated were in Butuan City, where the Agusan River threatened to overflow and inundate 15 low-lying villages, Mazo said.
In Davao Region, the incessant rains caused landslides and flooding, affecting 491 families particularly in the provinces of Davao del Norte and Compostela Valley, and Davao City.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said in its latest bulletin that the low pressure area (LPA), spotted in the vicinity of Surigao del Sur, caused a landslide along the roadside of Sitio A1, Purok 6, El Salvador, New Corella, Davao del Norte around 2 p.m. of January 11 (Saturday). No casualties were reported.
In Davao City, the City Government evacuated 16 families from Barangay 19-A, as the water level of the Davao River rose Saturday night. The affected families returned home the following day after the water level subsided.
In Davao Oriental, the Manurigao Bridge broke, cutting off Caraga from Baganga towns, which are still recovering from Typhoon Pablo.
Flooding incidents also occurred in the municipalities of Asuncion, Kapalong and New Corella, Davao del Norte. No casualties were also reported.
The NDDRMC said he road in Purok 1, Km. 10 in Brgy Sagayen, Asuncion is not passable to light vehicles.
It said a total of 243 families with 1110 individuals in seven barangays in Davao del Norte were affected of the landslide and flooding in the municipalities of Asuncion (Barangays Sagayen and Cantan), New Corella (Barangay Purok 6, Poblacion, New Bohol, Mesaoy, and Del Pilar) and Kapalong (Barangays Pag-asa and Maniki).
In Compostela Valley, flooding has occurred in at least five towns.
A total of 238 families with 1,190 individuals were affected in the municipalities of Monkayo (Purok 2, Mt. Diwata), Laak (Kidawa), Nabunturan (Purok 8, Magsaysay and Purok 8, Magading), Montevista (Purok 5, New Visayas), and Compostela (Maparat).
The NDRRMC said the non-stop rains have been spawned by the LPA, which entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) last Friday.
Although the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said in its latest bulletin Sunday night that there is no tropical cyclone within PAR, the Japan Meteorological Agency has already classified the LPA as a tropical depression.
Pagasa said, though, that it is monitoring the weather disturbance, which was estimated in the vicinity of Surigao del Sur as of 4 p.m. Sunday.
"This weather system will bring cloudy skies with moderate to heavy rain and thunderstorms over Mindanao (especially Caraga Region and Compostela Valley), Leyte and Samar Provinces, Negros Provinces, Cebu and Bohol," Pagasa said in its Facebook account.
But the Pagasa expects the weather to improve in about two days.
The stormy weather has also brought sporadic rains in central Philippine provinces where Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) left more than 6,100 people dead and nearly 1,800 others missing in November.
Yolanda displaced about four million people and thousands continue to live in tents as the government scrambles to build temporary shelters. (AP/ANC of Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)