12,000 families affected by Cotabato City flooding

About 12,000 families have already been affected by the steady rise of floodwaters in Cotabato City, the city’s local disaster management council said Tuesday. Around 2,000 families have already been brought to evacuation centers while 9,000 others chose to stay at home despite floods to guard their properties from thieves, a report over GMA News TV’s Balitanghali quoted the Cotabato City Risk Reduction and Management Council as saying. The affected families came from 26 barangays in Tamontaka Mother, Tamontaka, Poblacion Mother, Poblacion, Rosary Heights, Bagua, Kalanganan Mother and Kalanganan villages, a separate update from the National Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said. Classes in majority of public elementary and high schools remain suspended because classrooms are being used as evacuation centers, the television report likewise said. Incidents of diarrhea, pneumonia and other upper respiratory diseases have already been recorded among the evacuees, it added. The local government of Cotabato City has already released P1.4 million to assist the affected population.

Flooding in Cotabato City and other parts of Mindanao has been attributed to the piling up of huge volumes of water hyacinths at a portion of the Rio Grande de Mindanao, blocking the flow of the river. Workers from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), assisted by local volunteers, are already removing the water hyacinths, although the agency admitted that it may take a month for the river to be completely cleared of the plants. — Andreo Calonzo/RSJ, GMA News