Floods devastate 13 Maguindanao villages

COTABATO CITY — Some 10,000 impoverished Muslim residents in 13 low-lying towns in Maguindanao were driven to higher grounds by knee-deep floods inundating their towns since Sunday.

The floods were spawned by torrential rains in surrounding hinterland provinces.

Elsie Amil, chief of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Maguindanao, said their office has facilitated the initial release of P1.8 million worth of relief provisions to the evacuees now housed in temporary relief sites and school grounds in dry areas in their respective towns.

Most of the areas affected by the flood are located along the banks of big rivers.

The flooding in Maguindanao’s second district came less than two weeks after a devasting flashflood hit the town proper of Datu Odin Sinsuat in the first district and destroyed some P30 million worth of property. — John Unson