Central Mindanao towns flooded
COTABATO CITY — Floodwaters from heavy rains swept through 18 more towns in three Central Mindanao provinces on Saturday, forcing about 40,000 residents to flee and destroying bridges and at least 23 houses.
Many of the flooded towns in Maguindanao del Sur and Cotabato provinces were close to swamps and rivers linked to the 220,000-hectare Ligawasan Delta, a catch basin for more than a dozen waterways from mountain ranges.
The Ligawasan Delta swells fast during rainy days, causing floods in nearby towns.
Rampaging floods destroyed two bridges in the Tambis and Kidayan stretches of the Kalamansig-Palimbang Highway that straddles through the seaside Kalamansig and Palimbang towns in Sultan Kudarat province.
Cotabato Governor Emmylou T. Mendoza has sent emergency responders to flooded villages in Kabacan and Pikit towns, which are both known as gateways to the Ligawasan Delta.
The Office of Civil Defense-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) and the Ministry of Social Services and Development-BARMM were trying to reach out to residents of flood-stricken areas in Montawal and Pagalungan towns in Maguindanao del Sur and in some of the 63 Bangsamoro villages in Cotabato. — John Felix M. Unson