VEHICULAR traffic in the Narciso Ramos Highway, a vital road network that links Cotabato City to Pagadian City and Marawi City was rendered impassable because of the flash floods brought by the easterlies in Mindanao.
The municipal station in Balabagan town in Lanao del Sur posted a video clip on Facebook as of 6:10 pm last Friday showing parts of the Narciso Ramos Highway turned into a river of water and warning motorists not to travel.
Rescuers and Marine soldiers worked overtime to look for five children who were declared missing in Matanog town, Maguindanao del Norte after rampaging rains turned the Narciso Ramos Highway and nearby mountain gullies into rivers of mud last Tuesday night.
The bodies of Norhaina Butil, 11 years old, and her three-year-old sister Norhaine were found by the rescuers last Friday morning in Barangay Campo Uno in Matanog town, the Office of Civil Defense in the Bangsamoro Region in Muslim Mindanao said (OCD-Barmm) said.
OCD-Barmm Nyll Isaiah Tapia said a total of five persons including Norhaina and Norhaine were confirmed dead in Matanog town and nearby municipalities of Balabagan, Malabang, Kapatagan, and Marugong in the adjacent province of Lanao del Sur
Rescuers are still looking for three other siblings of Norhaina and Norhaine who were swept away by the flash floods that started last Tuesday night.
In nearby Lanao del Sur, the body of an 18-year-old male identified as Baby Nor Raba was found in Barangay Kabaniakawan in Kapatagan town Friday morning.
Barmmpolice director Brigadier General Prexy Tanggawohn said police rescuers are still looking for two sisters identified as Shiela and Ela Abdullah, both grade school students, who were swept away by the flash flood that destroyed their house in Barangay Molimok in Balabagan town.
The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said these parts of Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte would continue to be impacted by heavy rains, triggered by the easterlies, until Saturday, July 13.
Last Friday, videos were posted on the social networks of flash floods along the Narciso Ramos Highway that link Malabang to Parang towns into rivers of mud.
The Lanao del Sur Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council has deployed bulldozers, excavators, and dump trucks to clear the vital highway.
Lanao del Sur PDRRMC chief Shaminoden Sambitory said 4,900 families from 82 barangays have evacuated to higher ground while town officials reported 665 houses were damaged by the flash floods.
