GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 31 July) – An estimated P10-million worth of agricultural crops and infrastructure were damaged as a result of the recent flashfloods and landslides that ravaged eight barangays in Koronadal City.
Cyrus Urbano, Koronadal City administrator, said Wednesday such figure was based on the initial damage assessment reports submitted to the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) by the city engineering and agriculture offices.
He said the damage to infrastructure has reached nearly P7 million while those on agricultural crops was listed at around P3.1 million.
“This assessment does not include the damage to properties of the affected households,” said Urbano, who heads the CDRRMO.
The CDRRM Council headed by Koronadal City Mayor Peter Miguel passed a resolution last Monday declaring the entire city under a state of calamity due to the effects of the floods and landslides.
A CDRRMO report showed that the floods and landslides affected portions of barangays Assumption, Mambucal, Sta. Cruz, San Isidro, Carpenter Hill, Namnama, Concepcion and Zone 3 in Poblacion.
Urbano said their assessment is still ongoing for the damages wrought by the calamities at the household level, especially those affected by the floods in barangays Zone 3, San Isidro and Assumption.
Portions of the three villages were submerged in waist-deep floodwaters following hours of continuous rains last Friday that caused the critical Bulok Creek and several waterways to overflow.
The almost nonstop rains were spawned by a passing Low Pressure Area that was embedded in a prevailing Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) affecting Mindanao.
Urbano said they were also waiting for the damage assessment reports on the six houses that were partially damaged by the floods and landslides along the banks of the Marbel River.
The local government had relocated 12 families in Barangay Namnama and six in Concepcion due to swelling of the river’s waters and the collapse of portions of its banks.
For the damaged infrastructure, Urbano said the local government will need P6 million to P7 million for the repair and rehabilitation works.
He said these will cover the repair of flooded and landslide-hit roads, river banks and bridge approaches.
“Our immediate focus is to make the affected roads passable again and prop up the river banks to protect nearby communities,” he said in a radio interview.
As to the agricultural crops, among the areas that suffered significant damages were palay farmlands in Barangays Namnama and Carpenter Hill.
The barangay council of Namnama reported that around 17 hectares of standing palay crops were severely affected by last week’s floods.
The National Irrigation Administration said around 75 hectares of palay farmlands were also affected by the overflowing of irrigation canals in areas traversed by the Magsaysay River.