Zambo City placed under state of calamity

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – The city government has declared a state of calamity as flashfloods brought by continuous rains have left one dead and more than 1,000 families displaced, Mayor Celso Lobregat said yesterday.

Lobregat said the city council approved on Monday night the declaration of a state of calamity as recommended by the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. 

Lobregat said the declaration would allow the city government to use calamity funds for the rehabilitation of flood-stricken communities and for relief assistance.

Classes in all schools being utilized as evacuation centers have remained suspended, Lobregat said.

The city agriculture office said the floods have affected hundreds of hectares of farmlands and fishponds in 10 barangays.

Meanwhile, several villages have remained isolated and could not be reached for relief assistance in Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte for three days now, Mayor Cesar Soriano said.

Soriano said strong current has prevented rescue and relief volunteers from bringing the needed relief help to the isolated villages.

“The roads remained cut off and the only means to reach the isolated villages where 32 houses were washed out by the flood was through the swelling rivers,” he said. 

He said though relief operations have remained non-stop for about 20,000 residents displaced by the flashfloods since Sunday. 

In Central Mindanao, vast tracts of rice and corn farms have been flooded following two days of torrential rains, officials said.

Retired Brig. Gen. Loreto Rirao, director of the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said dozens of low-lying villages in Maguindanao have been flooded after heavy rains swelled the rivers crisscrossing the province. – Roel Pareño, John Unson, Jaime Laude