SENATE President Aquilino Martin Pimentel III yesterday appealed for immediate aid for residents of Cagayan de Oro where torrential rains caused “cataclysmic flashfloods” and forced authorities to evacuate people from at least 11 barangays on Monday.
Pimentel cited city hall’s response, quickly evacuating thousands to safer grounds to prevent casualties.
He said the “swift decisive government response saved lives—but homes and villages were washed away, creating an army of evacuees in Northern Mindanao’s premier city.”
“On behalf of Cagayan de Oro, I issue this urgent appeal. The city needs every assistance that our people can give. It needs immediate support for the reconstruction of destroyed houses and other damaged buildings,” said Pimentel.
He said the affected residents need immediate food and clothing as their houses were washed away or were submerged in waist-deep floodwaters.
City and social welfare officials, who were first to rush to the evacuation sites, described the flood as Ondoy-like, a reference the rampaging floodwaters that hit Metro Manila which laid in the path Typhoon Ondoy in 2009.
Pimentel said it was time that local officials revisited the city’s flood-control and infrastructure program.
He said he has received reports that the city’s drains were clogged with trash.
He said rainwater that cascaded from the mountains and valleys of Bukidnon rose quickly, creating floods that caught many by surprise, including city students who were stranded overnight.
He said he would also talk to concerned government agencies, including the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Department of Health (DOH), to extend assistance to the victims.
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