NORTH Cotabato, Philippines – Heavy rains in the past two days swelled rivers in Tulunan and Kabacan towns, inundating rice farms and displacing more than a hundred villagers.
At least 46 families in low-lying areas in Barangay Minapan in Tulunan alone were displaced after the Minampan and Maybula rivers overflowed.
Officials of the Tulunan municipal disaster risk reduction and management council said irrigation dikes crisscrossing rice farms in the surroundings of Barangay Minapan also swelled and overflowed.
The floodwaters swept away farm animals and crops, according to key members of the council.
Education officials also suspended classes in schools in eight villages in Kabacan town, in the first district of the province, due to floods spawned by heavy rains.