COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Heavy downpour has caused the 220,00-hectare Liguasan Delta to overflow and flood more than 50 barangays in lowland central Mindanao.
Hundreds of families were displaced by flashfloods that swept through dozens of barangays on Saturday in Pikit, North Cotabato and in Pagalungan and Montawal towns in Maguindanao.
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The three towns are touted as gateways to the Liguasan Delta, a catch basin for large rivers from Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat, South Cotabato, North Cotabato and Bukidnon provinces.
The Bangsamoro government's Rapid Emergency Action on Disaster Incidence, or READi contingent, dispatched Sunday emergency responders to Pagalungan and Montawal to provide villagers food and other essential provisions.
Rescue teams from the Bureau of Fire Protection-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region and members of the local police relocated on Saturday night no fewer than a hundred families in flooded Barangay Limbo in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao to higher ground.
Personnel of the Sultan Kudarat Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office are now attending to the needs of the flood-stricken villagers, according to Mayor Shameem Mastura.
Bangsamoro Local Government Minister Naguib Sinarimbo said residents in the flooded towns in Maguindanao will get aid.