PHILIPPINES: Flash floods strikes in Bukidnon- Numbers of residents in the Province of Bukidnon died including the six-month-old baby girl and hundreds evacuated their homes as the Flash floods strucks the land and damaged many houses and properties in town, even bridges were flashed by heavy floods.There are also missing that until time not yet found.
According to Ana Caneda, head of the OCD in Northern Mindanao, three villages including Poblacion in Valencia City and two others in Malaybalay City, experienced floods due to heavy rains that started last week. “The rains spawned by the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) caused the water tributaries in Bukidnon to overflow resulting in the flooding of some villages in the cities of Valencia and Malaybalay,” she said.
Heavy rains experienced the region since late July and the government warned residents of vulnerable areas, including riverbank shanties, to evacuate, but some refused, she said. “They may not have relatives to go to and don’t want to go to the evacuation centers so they choose to sit it out,” she added, that some had refused to leave their properties unguarded.
Valencia City police chief Supt. Alfonso Abanales said that around 227 families or 793 individuals have been evacuated to the city gymnasium.The Provincial Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) officer-in-charge Fernando Dy Jr. said that Oriental sustained only minimal damages as reported by responders of the PDRRMO.
Anne Fortich, office-in-charge of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa)-Mindanao, said torrential rains are expected brought about by the southwest monsoon and by the effects of super typhoon Soudelor. She said the typhoon will not make landfall but is expected to create several low-pressure areas or “LPA” in Mindanao.“We are expecting light to moderate rains until Friday.”IMAGE/bukidnonnews.net
