KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/25 January)—Floods hit parts of this city, the seat of government of Region 12, early Friday night after a heavy rainfall that lasted for at least an hour and a half.
The heavy downpour, coupled with strong winds, started at around 4:30 p.m.
Parts of Barangay Zone 3 in the poblacion area was submerged in knee-high floodwaters, forcing village officials to temporarily close the diversion road stretching from Arellano Street towards Alunan Avenue.
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Bert Hinay, Zone 3 village chief, said that traffic enforcers were deployed to prevent light vehicles and tricycles from using the diversion road.
The diversion road is the route often used by travelers from General Santos City in going to South Cotabato’s upper valley towns of Banga, Surallah, Norala, Sto. Nino, Lake Sebu and T’boli, and vice versa.
City administrator Cyrus Jose Urbano said they immediately warned landslide- and flood-prone areas in the city to be on alert as the strong rains battered the city.
At 4 p.m. Friday, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said that a low pressure area was estimated based on all available data at 840 km southeast of Mindanao.
Urbano, also the chief of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, said that parts of Barangay Zone 1 were also flooded.
The Bulok Creek crisscrossing the city proper near the old city hall rose and was just a foot to reaching the bridge’s spilling level as of 8 p.m. Friday.
Saying the water level in the creek had reached its critical level, Urbano urged residents along its banks to move to safer grounds.
As the heavy rains pounded the area, the narrow drainage canal in the national highway along General Santos Drive overflowed due to the volume of water, forcing vehicles to slow down
Rescue teams have been deployed to the different parts of the city. (MindaNews)
