2 minors perish, thousands displaced by Central Mindanao floods

PIKIT, North Cotabato — Two minors were drowned Thursday in floods that hit dozens of barangays along the 220,000-hectare Liguasan Delta, swelled by recurring downpours since Monday.

Thousands of residents here and in nearby Pagalungan and Montawal towns in Maguindanao, touted as the gateways to the Liguasan Delta, were forced to relocate to higher grounds as floodwaters began inundating their villages Thursday.

A 12-year-old girl, Rohana Tumbaga, was drowned while preventing her sister, Rohaina, from being swept away by the flood that hit their yard in Barangay Inug-ug in Pagalungan, Maguindanao.

Benjamin Alip, municipal disaster risk reduction and management officer of Pagalungan, said Friday hundreds of villagers in barangays along rivers crisscrossing their municipality were displaced by flashfloods.

A Maguindanaon woman, Saguira Molina, lost a one-year-child who fell and got drowned too while they tried to get to the roof of their house as floodwaters inundated their surroundings in Barangay Talitay, an interior area here.

Several other barangays here have also been inundated as the Liguasan Delta started to overflow Wednesday due to heavy downpours in mountain ranges around.

The Liguasan Delta is a catch basin for dozens of large rivers that springs from hinterlands in central Mindanao’s North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Bukidnon provinces.