AGAIN, FLOODS!

By SHIELA MAE BUTLIG
and NITZ ARANCON
Correspondents

TWO weather systems, similar to what many areas in Mindanao saw in Jan. 16, brought continuous rains in the same areas and sent many families evacuating to safer grounds again over the weekend.

The rains poured at dawn Saturday and continued for hours, resulting in floods.

As of 2 pm Saturday, 499 families evacuated in Gingoog City and the towns of Medina and Balingasag, data from the capitol showed.

Gov. Yevgeny Vincente Emano said a landslide near a bridge also made a road in Balingoan town impassable, and floodwaters submerged a bridge in Alubijid.

Emano issued a Misamis Oriental-wide alert as he ordered the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) to mobilize the rescue teams.

Emano said two houses in Villanueva were destroyed when a tree fell on them, but nobody was reported hurt.

Some roads in Cagayan de Oro were closed to vehicular traffic because of rising floodwaters.

The city’s 2nd District was badly affected again as floodwaters hit the section of CM Recto Ave. near Limketkai center and the stateun University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines up to Gaabucayan St., Barangay 26, San Lazaro in Lapasan, JR Borja Extension, Cugman, and Tibasak in Macasandig.

As early as 1:30 pm that day, evacuees already flocked to the Cugman covered court. But city hall officials said preemptive evacuations in the city were done as early as 11 am.

In the city’s 1st District, floodwaters rose in parts of Villarin St. towards the areas of Madonna hospital and the city hallun JR Borja Memorial General Hospital in Carmen, sections of Kauswagan, and Villa Candida in Bulua, among others.

The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said the bad weather was due to the combination of a low-pressure area and tail-end of a cold front. The state weather bureau had warned about the low-pressure area with a disturbing cloud band formation heading towards Caraga and the Davao region as early as Tuesday.

As the rains poured, local officials raised flood warnings in various areas in northern Mindanao and Caraga as early as Saturday morning when Pagasa sounded the alarms bells in Misamis Oriental, Bukidnon, Camiguin, Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Sur, Surigao del Norte, and Dinagat Islands. Misamis Occidental and Lanao del Norte were also alerted.

Pagasa cautioned against expected floodings in low-lying areas and near river channels, and landslides in mountainous areas in the entire Caraga (Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Dinagat Islands, Surigao del Norte and Surigao del Sur), Bukidnon, Camiguin, Lanao del Norte Misamis Occidental and Misamis Oriental in Region 10, and Lanao del Sur in the Armm.

Pagasa said the red rainfall advisory comes “when downpours constitute an emergency” and when observed rainfall is more than 30 mm within one hour or if rainfall has continued for the past three hours and is more than 65 mm.

Pagasa also raised “orange” and “yellow” rainfall advisories over the provinces of Zamboanga del Norte and Sarangani, Compostela Valley, Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, Davao Occidental and Davao Oriental, Basilan, Maguindanao and Sulu.

Flights from Manila to Surigao and Butuan to Manila were cancelled on Saturday afternoon due to bad weather.

Josefino Bascug, a consultant for the environment of the Misamis Oriental capitol, said the weather conditions would likely keep on repeating throughout February because of the cold front, and so, people would need to be more vigilant. (with reports from pna and mindanews)