Thousands flee homes as flood hits Davao del Norte again

DAVAO ORIENTAL, Philippines – Thousands of families evacuated to safer grounds as heavy rain spawned widespread flooding and destruction again in Davao del Norte on Thursday, February 23.

The municipal government of Carmen in Davao del Norte ordered forced evacuation of residents in 11 villages where communities were submerged in floodwater as a result of continuous heavy rain.

As of 5 pm, the local government counted 9,951 families or about 29,804 people who fled their homes in 11 barangays in Carmen town.

Germelie Daarol, operations staff member at the Davao del Norte’s provincial disaster risk reduction and management office, said the hardest hit villages were the following:

• Mabuhay
• Alejal
• New Camiling
• Ising
• Asuncion
• Taba
• Mangalcal
• Tuganay
• Salvacion
• Santo Niño
• Anibongan

Aside from Carmen town, heavy rain and widespread flooding were also reported in hit the  Davao del Norte towns of Santo Tomas and Asuncion, and Panabo City.

Heavy rain had been pounding the Davao Region on separate occasions this month, saturating the soil and making its provinces prone to flooding.

On February 18, for instance, the neighboring Davao de Oro province saw heavy rain and rampaging floodwaters that destroyed the Naboc Bridge in the gold-rush town of Monkayo, said Hershey Cole, an operations staff at the Office of Civil Defense in the Davao Region.

In a public advisory, the provincial government of Davao de Oro said no one was hurt when the Naboc Bridge collapsed over the weekend.

In the Davao Oriental, Governor Corazon Malanyaon said relief aid workers have so far distributed more than 40,000 food packs to residents of flood-stricken towns of Boston, Cateel, and Governor Generoso in the past few days. – Rappler.com

Ferdinand Zuasola is an Aries Rufo Journalism fellow