COTABATO CITY — The provincial board of Maguindanao del Sur on Tuesday placed the province under a state of calamity after rampaging floods swept through 17 of its 24 towns following heavy rains.
The floods forced more than 72,000 families to flee, the police, army and the province’s disaster agency said in separate reports on Wednesday.
Maguindanao del Sur is part of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, apart from Maguindanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.
Many of the villages in the 17 flooded Maguindanao del Sur towns are close to rivers and swamps that connect to the 220,000-hectare Ligasawan Delta, a catch basin for more than a dozen waterways.
“We are moving around to extend relief services to affected residents,” Ameer Jehad A. Ambolodto, chief of Maguindanao del Sur’s disaster office, told reporters. — John Felix M. Unson
