Flood-hit Mindanao towns appeal for aid as death toll climbs to 21

KORONADAL CITY, BARMM, Philippines — Residents of flood-ravaged communities in southern Mindanao appealed for urgent humanitarian assistance on Monday as the death toll from Typhoon Inday (international name: Bavi) and the enhanced southwest monsoon climbed to 21, while more than half a million people were affected in the Bangsamoro region.

In Glan, Sarangani province, at least 450 families in Barangay Mudan were displaced by floods and landslides triggered by nearly three days of incessant rain from July 10 to July 12.

Barangay Chair Julieta Embajador said many residents sought shelter in the village gymnasium, church and other evacuation sites after floodwaters inundated the community.

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The village urgently needs food, safe drinking water, tents and construction materials for damaged homes, she said.

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READ: Floods affect 500,000 BARMM residents

Search-and-rescue teams were also looking for a couple reported missing in Glan, one of the towns still recovering from the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck Mindanao on June 8.

Surge of floodwaters

Residents believe the flooding was caused by a landslide upstream that blocked a creek, creating an artificial dam that later burst after days of heavy rain.

Renan Embajador, a resident, warned that only part of the blockage had collapsed and that a large volume of water could still be trapped in the mountains.

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READ: Floods affect 62,000 families in Maguindanao del Sur

He urged authorities to act immediately to prevent another possible surge of floodwaters.

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Glan Vice Mayor Victor James Yap Jr. said the municipal government had coordinated with the Sarangani provincial government, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine Air Force to conduct an aerial survey of the affected area.

The fatalities also increased after rescuers confirmed on Sunday the recovery of three bodies in Barangay Tanuman, Jose Abad Santos, Davao Occidental.

Jose Abad Santos Mayor Jason John Joyce said the victims were among those swept away by flash floods that devastated the village on July 10, damaging roads and inundating homes.

Earlier in the day, Joyce had confirmed only one fatality.

Six residents in Jose Abad Santos remained missing, with search, rescue and retrieval operations continuing.

Authorities are also searching for one missing person in Malapatan, Sarangani, and four others in Calanogas, Lanao del Sur.

Before the latest recoveries, authorities had recorded nine deaths in Malapatan, seven in Calanogas and two in Bukidnon.

Across the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, widespread flooding affected at least 103,218 families, or 516,090 individuals.

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Muhammad Farzieh Abutazil, director of the Bangsamoro Rapid Emergency Action on Disaster Incidence, said the worst-hit areas were in Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur. —WITH REPORTS FROM EDWIN O. FERNANDEZ, AND BONG S. SARMIENTO