Officials anticipating flash floods in South Cotabato
Breaking News • 15:45 PM Fri Jun 11, 2021
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By:
John M. Unson
Water in this river in Noralla, South Cotabato swelled due to heavy rains. (From South Cotabato PDRRMO)
KORONADAL CITY --- The South Cotabato provincial government mobilized Friday emergency responders in anticipation of possible flashfloods due to heavy downpours.
A number of barangays in South Cotabato were hit just a week ago by flashfloods spawned by torrential rains.
In a statement Friday, the South Cotabato Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office said it is thankful to Public Works Secretary Mark Villar and to officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways-12 for lending the provincial government equipment needed to remove debris blocking rivers, causing the inundation of riverside farming enclaves.
One of the equipment provided by the DPWH-12, a backhoe, is now removing debris that accumulated at one side of the large Puti Bridge in Norala town.
The level of floodwater in the river whose opposite banks are connected to each other by the Puti Bridge have risen so high after heavy rains fell on mountain ranges nearby.
South Cotabato Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo, chairperson of the provincial disaster risk reduction and management council, said Friday their calamity and disaster response teams are again out, monitoring the large rivers crisscrossing lowlands in the province.
Tamayo said he is grateful to the regional director of DPWH-12, Bashir Ibrahim, and district engineer Khalin Sultan, for extending to the South Cotabato provincial government technical support needed to hasten its flood mitigation efforts.
Worst hit by flashfloods just a week ago were agricultural enclaves in South Cotabato’s Banga, Noralla and Surallah towns.
Rivers straddling through the affected towns swelled and overflowed following heavy rains, causing floods that swept through vast swaths or rice and corn farms.