5 die, 3 missing in Bukidnon flash floods

VALENCIA CITY–- Five persons died, three others are missing and 103 families were evacuated as floods struck the landlocked province of Bukidnon, the Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) said Wednesday.Ana Caneda, head of the OCD in Northern Mindanao, said that three villages including Poblacion in Valencia City and two others in Malaybalay City, experienced floods due to intermittent rains that started last week.The floods, however, were not an effect of Typhoon Hanna that entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) Wednesday morning, she noted.Caneda said that all the casualties came from Poblacion, Valencia City. The rains spawned by Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ICTZ) caused the water tributaries in Bukidnon to overflow resulting in the flooding of some villages in the cities of Valencia and Malaybalay,” she said.Caneda also said that 103 families have evacuated to the gymnasium of Valencia City as Northern Mindanao gears for Hanna.”Caneda said that the OCD in Northern Mindanao raised the Blue Alert” status to signal the city and provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (DRRMC) to get ready for the impending storm.The Blue Alert” status mobilizes 50 percent of the personnel of the DRRMC to be on standby and on their post until the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC) lowers the alert status to a normal level. (PNA)