About 1,000 families in Davao City were evacuated to safer areas due to flooding in some parts of the city brought about by heavy rain since Wednesday evening.
Davao City Police Office (DCPO) director Sr. Supt. Alexander Tagum said the families are residing in areas near the river in the districts of Poblacion, Buhangin, Baguio, Calinan, Tugbok and Bunawan.
Tagum said since 11 p.m. of January 23, the search and rescue team of DCPO and City Mobile Force Company began evacuating families due to the rapid rise of onrushing water level. He said 58 families were evacuated from Barangay 5-A who are now in the barangay covered court while 47 families were sheltered temporarily at Doña Pilar Elementary School.
At the Maa Elementary School, at least 110 families coming from Dapsa, Sanguilangan, Sitio Padaman and Morvisa were also evacuated at the school’s covered court.
Elsewhere in Bunawan area, hundreds of families were also evacuated by the search and rescue team of Bunawan Police Stations on Thursday morning.
The Barangay Lasang highway was not passable in the morning due to flood and many motorists plying the road were stranded.
As of 10:30 a.m., some of the evacuees already returned home but were advised to keep monitoring the water level.
The Davao City Disaster Risk Reduction Managment Office (CDRMMO) reported that as of 12:20 noon of Thursday, water in Bunawan River subsided but the evacuees in the area stayed put.
