7 dead, 2 missing in Bukidnon floods

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines – Seven persons, including four children, drowned while two others were missing when flashfloods hit six villages in Bukidnon on Tuesday.

Valencia City Mayor Azucena Huervas said members of a search and rescue team recovered seven bodies as of yesterday.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) identified the fatalities as Baby Rose Batisil, 9; Dalia Mae Lozano, 7; Jielove Badoy, 6; Epifanio Canyamu, 23; Gina Eroisa, 25; six-month-old John Francies Eroisa and Virgilio Telin.

Rescuers were still searching for seven-year-old Bobsky Batisil and Eddie Eroisa, husband of Gina.

The NDRRMC said heavy rains spawned by an intertropical convergence zone and the southwest monsoon had been pounding the villages of Poblacion, Guinuyoron, Sugod and Tugaya, all in Valencia, and San Jose and Linabo, both in Malaybalay.

Huervas said at least 157 families in Barangay Poblacion were affected by the flashfloods, 50 in Sugod, three in Tugaya and one in Guinuyoran.

At least 200 families were also affected by flashfloods in Barangay San Jose and 15 in Barangay Linabo.

Valencia City police chief Superintendent Alfonso Abanales said 18 houses were swept away while 40 others were destroyed in the floods.

Meanwhile, in Maguindanao, more than 50 barangays were submerged after the Liguasan Delta overflowed following three days of rains that started Monday.

Maguindanao is located near the Liguasan Delta, a catch basin for rivers that spring from the nearby provinces of Bukidnon, South Cotabato, North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat. – With John Unson