3 dead, scores displaced in Iligan floods

ILIGAN City – Three people drowned and some 500 others were displaced after heavy rains unleashed floods across the city, officials said yesterday.

The Tubod river and its tributaries overflowed their banks after three days of heavy rains, leaving parts of the city of 300,000 people under one meter of water, said civil defense officer Armando Edrozo.

Three people drowned in the city’s outskirts, while a man was rescued at the pier after he was carried down the Tubod early yesterday, he said.

He said floodwaters had displaced some 500 people and caused some cracks on a river bridge, forcing the authorities to shut it down and stranding some 150 vehicles.

Mayor Lawrence Cruz mobilized yesterday the City Disaster Coordinating Council and the Rescue 111 to assist barangays severely affected by chest-deep waters like Barangay Mahayahay.

Other barangays like Dalipuga, Tambacan, Bagong Silang, San Miguel and Tubod suffered knee-deep water as heavy rains continue to fall until yesterday.

Cruz, in coordination with the Department of Education (DepEd) suspended classes yesterday in all levels, however, it was still a working day.

Rescuers reported that at least one man was rescued as he clung to a banana trunk to keep afloat in Iligan River while in another incident, rescuers reported that while they were trying to rescue another man, they lost sight of him and reported him as missing.

A minor landslide destroyed the house of one Emie delos Santos, in sitio Tag-Ibo, Dalipuga as a boulder hit his house. The occupants suffered bruises, according to delos Santos.

However, authorities, could not determine as of press time what extent of damage the flood caused and if there are more missing persons or if there were more deaths caused by the flood.

Some houses along the riverbanks in Barangay Dalipuga were reported to have been either swept or destroyed by flood waters, according to radio reports.

Scores of families living along the riverbank in Barangays Dalipuga and Mahayahay and along the coastline of Barangay Tambacan were evacuated.

Evacuation centers were established at the Iligan City Central School and at the Iligan City National Comprehensive High School where at least some 80 families are now sheltered, according to authorities.

Relief operations are being undertaken by the City Social Welfare Department.

Electric power was cut as flood waters continue to rise yesterday.   – With AFP