ZAMBOANGA CITY – Hundreds of families fled as floods inundated at least six barangays in Zamboanga City on Saturday, August 12.
Mayor John Dalipe ordered city government offices to mobilize all resources and respond to the needs of flood victims.
The City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (CDRRMO) reported that 500 families from Barangay San Jose Gusu evacuated to the San Jose Gusu Elementary School.
Five families in Putik also evacuated to the elementary school due to rising flood waters in the morning.
Inundated barangays were Tumaga, Santa Maria, San Roque, Cabatangan, Lunzuran, and Baliwasan.
At least 250 families in the Ayudahan, Paraiso, and Kalayaan villages in Barangay Tumaga refused to evacuate.
The Zamboanga City police, Coast Guard, Bureau of Fire Protection, and Marine Battalion Landing Team 11 conducted rescue operations in Lupung Drive in Santa Maria and Murga, Tumaga.
Dalipe led city officials in distributing food packs and relief items to affected individuals.
Heavy equipment was deployed by the City Engineer’s Office to attend to landslides in Barangays Lumbangan and Capisan.
Rising floodwater forced a power outage in several power feeders.
Heavy rains, which started Saturday morning, was spawned by the southwest monsoon or “habagat,” the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration said.