1 dies, 1 missing, 35K families hit by heavy flooding in Cotabato, Maguindanao

KIDAPAWAN CITY - Close to 35,000 families from low-lying towns in Cotabato and Maguindanao were affected by flooding caused by torrential rains since October 14, a disaster response official said.

Arnulfo Villaruz, Cotabato Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (PDRRM) operations and warning chief, said at least 22,000 families from the towns of Pikit and Kabacan in the province were affected by flash floods.

Of the number, 20,000 families were from the 30 barangays of Pikit, and the rest from 10 barangays of Kabacan.

Meanwhile, in M’lang, also a town in Cotabato, the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) led by Fire Marshall Marleap Nabor, municipal disaster risk reduction management (MDRRM) officers, and rescue volunteers continued their almost one-week search and retrieval operations to locate a 44-year-old farmer whose body was thrown into raging waters in Barangay New Laawan last October 14.

Reports from BFP in M’lang said that as of October 20, rescue volunteers failed to retrieve the body of the victim whose identity is still unknown.   

On Tuesday, Nabor, in their official Facebook page ordered the operations stopped because of the heavy rains that started pouring at around 5 p.m.

Villaruz said Barangay New Lawaan in M’lang is located near the Liguasan Marsh, a catch basin of waters coming from the Rio Grande de Mindanao.

Also on Tuesday, rescue workers in nearby Makilala town retrieved the body of 33-year-old Elden Gudmalen, hours after he was swept by the strong current of floodwaters in Barangay Kisante.   

Makilala Mayor Armando Quibod said Gudmalen tried to save one of his farm animals from drowning when it was hit by “balls of water” coming from the upper stream.

The heavy flooding since Monday affected 250 families from Barangays Kisante and New Bulatucan, according to Quibod.

Maguindanao

In Maguindanao, two towns located near the Pulangi River were already inundated by floodwaters since October 14, according to Pagalungan Vice Mayor Abdilla Mamasabulod.

He said at least 10,000 families from his town were severely affected.

“We were in quandary why until now the waters have not subsided. Our constituents have nowhere to go but to stay in their homes, sometimes up to the roofs of their houses. We have no high grounds where they could stay because every part of the land here is already flooded. Even barangays located near the national highway were not spared,” said Mamasabulod in a media interview.

Mamasabulod said the Sangguniang Bayan, which he presides, has already declared a state of calamity in his town so they could use a portion of their MDRRM fund for disaster response.

The nearby town of Datu Montawal was also placed under a state of calamity because of the flooding.

Villaruz said that from October 14 until October 15, the National Power Corporation (Napocor) has released 94 cubic meters of water per second from their dam in Bukidnon.

On October 16, it released 64 cubic meters per second which caused heavy flooding in low-lying areas, especially in Cotabato and Maguindanao, according to Villaruz.

“The Napocor did not inform us about the release of waters from their dam. We were just as surprised as everyone here,” said Villaruz. —KG, GMA News