The Office of Civil Defense remains on blue alert Thursday as Davao Region still continues to experience rain due to the tail-end of a cold front.
The tail end of a cold front refers loosely to the “edge of a cold front characterized by a cold air mass that is being pushed out of the area.”
On Thursday, OCD regional director Leoncio Cirunay Jr. attended an emergency meeting in Compostella Valley with representatives from other disaster response agencies such as Department of Social Welfare and Development, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, Philippine Coast Guard to assess the calamity.
“With the help of Department of Science and Technology and Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services, and OCD, we are continuously monitoring the weather system, and Blue Alert level status, remains,” Cirunay told reporters in a press briefing.
He explained that their data shows high chances of having heavy rainfalls on Thursday and Friday.
Cirunay added that they have advised their personnel and other disaster response agencies to “estimate” the chance of rainfalls before allowing the evacuees to return to their homes.
“Basin mubalik na sad og ulan ani, mag pre-emptive evacuation na sad ta and sig era ta’g balik2x sa evactuation sites ani,” he said.
Cirunay also reported 13 casualties from the heavy rains, wherein 8 people died, 3 individuals injured, and 2 victims affected from landslide.
“Usually, the children are usually the victims of drowning because of the flooding,” Cirunay said.
He reminded the parents that they must keep an eye on their children.
“Hindi alam ng kids na malalim na pala yung water level na nilulusong nila,” Cirunay explained.
Meanwhile, several evacuees from Compostella Valley and Davao Oriental went back to their homes as water levels subside.
ICT Secretary and Davao Oriental Municipal Local Government Operations Officer Ryan Masagnay told Edge Davao that the water level of Aragon Dam reduced from a critically high level of 20.3 meters on Monday to a level of 17.0 meters on Thursday morning.
The 20.3 level was viewed as the tipping point of overflowing. Aragon Dam is situated in the barangay of Aragon, about 12 km west of Cateel Poblacion.
According to Masagnay, four barangays in Cateel would have been affected which are: Aragon, Alegria, San Alfonso, and Taytayan.
As of Thursday morning, Cateel ICP noted 342 family-evacuees in four evacuation centers but the number could go high as families in one evacuation center had not been accounted for.
The flood and landslides caused by the continuous rains in the region brought by the tail end of the cold front affected ten of the 16 barangays in the town wherein 864 families evacuated.
While other families already went back to their houses, there are still 143 families remaining in the evacuation centers in Compostella Valley – particularly in New Bataan.
According to Municipal Information Officer Celso Casia, the remaining families were from Bantacan with 15 families, Cabinuangan with 66, and Kahayag with 62.
“Families were advised to stay in their respective evacuation centers because of the strong current in Mayo River in Brgy Cabinuangan,” he explained.
