AT least five people have been confirmed killed by the floods that hit Northern Mindanao and Western Visayas starting Monday night.
Four of the fatalities were in Cagayan de Oro City and other was reported in Antique province.
The body of Virgilio Turno, 84, a tuba gatherer in Barangay Bulua, Cagayan de Oro, was found Tuesday morning by a neighbor who was inspecting the damage wrought by the flood.
Tuno’s son said his father went missing on Monday afternoon at the height of the heavy rain while gathering tuba in the neighborhood.
Reported missing was Roy Leonen, 15, of Lapasan, a Grade 9 student of Misamis Oriental General Comprehensive High School, who was expected to be home about 6 p.m. on Monday after attending classes, but has not gone home by Tuesday morning.
More than 5,000 individuals in Cagayan de Oro City were reportedly moved to various evacuation centers owing to the rising floodwater at the height of the heavy rains, the city’s disaster officials reported on Tuesday.
At the same time, the low pressure area (LPA) that affected the province of Antique on Monday caused the death of one person and temporarily rendered a national highway impassable.
Antique Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officer Broderick Train said the victim died in the flashflood that occurred in Barangays Vilvar and Baladjay in San Remigio town.
Earlier, three people were reported to have drowned in the floods that inundated parts of Misamis Oriental and Cagayan de Oro.
Rescuers recovered the bodies of Rudy Boy Cabido, 14, in Agusan, Cagayan de Oro, on Tuesday morning and Zian Angel Montesino, 10, in Awang Opol, Misamis Oriental, on Monday evening.
Rescuers also fished out the body of Franklin Ociosbello, 59, of Balulang, Cagayan de Oro, from the river on Tuesday morning.
In Misamis Oriental more than 4,000 individuals living near rivers and creeks were also evacuated to higher grounds amid an upsurge of floodwater due to heavy rains brought by the LPA on Monday.
Misamis Oriental Gov. Yevgeny Vincente Emano suspended classes in all levels of public schools on Tuesday, as the Provincial Disaster, Risk Reduction Management Office (PRDRRMO) continued to assess the damage brought about by the flooding.
The local government of Cagayan de Oro City has also declared the city under the state of calamity after the heavy rain on Monday turned the city’s urban villages and downtown area into a complete mess.
Disaster officials in the city and the province of Misamis Oriental continue to monitor and assess the damage to properties, as aircraft from the Air Force conducted an aerial survey of the flood’s aftermath.
Both the city and provincial disaster officials have yet to issue an estimated value of the damage to properties and agriculture in Cagayan de Oro City and Misamis Classes suspended in Bohol due to floods.
In Bohol classes in kindergarten, elementary and high school remained suspended on Tuesday, as the weather bureau placed the entire province under yellow rainfall alert.
Bohol Gov. Edgar Chatto ordered the suspension of classes.
Owing to hours of moderate to heavy rains, several areas in Bohol have been flooded.
Several roads and bridges in different towns have been renedered unpassable by the floods as various rivers overflowed.