The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said a total of 68,498 families or 356,528 people were displaced in Bicol, eastern Visayas and the Caraga regions due to floods and landslides.

In Butuan City, massive rescue and relief operations went into high gear as 49,472 families or about 253,040 persons had been dislodged from their homes in Caraga Region due to four days of continuous rains and flooding.

“This is the worst flooding in 10 years. Butuan City usually does not get flooded because it is protected by a viaduct but this time, it really got hit.

The whole of Butuan City is flooded,” said Blanche Gobenciong, Caraga regional civil defense chief.

“Even the areas previously not touched by floods were affected,” she said of the city of 270,000 people.

Three people were buried when a chromite mine tunnel collapsed Monday in the outskirts of Butuan City and three others drowned in the province of Surigao del Sur, she said.

Five people were killed in the eastern province of Southern Leyte, three in Albay province, three in Compostela Valley province and one in the southern province of Lanao del Norte.

PAGASA reported that a northeast monsoon (amihan) will prevail over Luzon, and a tail-end of a cold front will affect Visayas and Mindanao.

Cold front is the boundary along the leading edge of a cold air mass that is pushing out a warm air mass. Cloudy skies brought about by a cold front are often coupled with thunderstorms and rain showers.

PAGASA warned that continuous rains in Biliran, Eastern Samar, Leyte, Northern Samar, Samar, Southern Leyte, Bukidnon, Camiguin, Lanao del Norte, Misamis Occidental, Misamis Oriental, Cagayan de Oro City, and Iligan City may trigger flashfloods and landslides.

Compiled reports coming from Philippine Information Agency (PIA-Caraga region), Office of Civil Defense (OCD-Caraga) and various disaster coordinating councils spread all over the region stated that concerned government agencies such as Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Health (DoH), local government units (LGU’s) and other line agencies of the government are working on 890 evacuation centers spread all over the region, to attend the immediate needs of the evacuees.

The storms have eased slightly, allowing government agencies to dispatch heavy equipment to clear roads that have been blocked by landslides, said Gobenciong.

At least 240 barangays at various areas in the region are submerged by flood waters, disaster report said.

The DoH Caraga already distributed worth of P380,434.25 assorted medicines to flood victims while the DSWD-Caraga also distributed several sacks of rice and assorted foods to various evacuation centers, said PIA Caraga Regional Director Abner M. Caraga.

Maintenance crew, engineers and technical men and workers of the Region Xlll DPWH led by Regional Director Danilo Versola started removal and clearing debris and slides in national and secondary roads that were affected by flood and landslides as millions of the other infrastructure projects like bridges were partially destroyed by the flash flood since January 1, this year.

Rescuers have retrieved the bodies of two gold panners who were caught in a landslide on the outskirts of Butuan, said Gobenciong.

About 4,400 people in Butuan and nearby areas were evacuated, she added.

Ten other people have drowned or been killed by landslides elsewhere since heavy rains began on December 29, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said in its latest bulletin.

Almost 8,000 people remained in government evacuation centers across the country, it added.

At least two other people are also reported missing due to landslides, said the government and the Philippine Red Cross.

President Benigno S. Aquino III Tuesday tasked disaster risk agencies to find out why there were still casualties from heavy rainfall in areas where mass evacuation had been ordered.

In an ambush interview following the command conference at the Philippine Navy Tuesday, Aquino said he has ordered Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin “to find out exactly” why there were two persons who died in Southern Leyte due to heavy rains.

He noted that the number one priority was to evacuate residents affected by heavy rains to safer grounds.

Aquino said evacuations had been made but he wanted to know why there were still casualties.

“Ni-relocate na mayroon pa ring namatay, so gusto ko makuha ’yung details [We relocated them but there were still some who died, that’s why I want to get the details],” he said.

According to Aquino, there are about 66 of 80 provinces that are at high risk “so the aim is to reduce the risks that these communities are facing.”

It can be recalled that the government has evacuated more than 60,000 residents in the Bicol Region and more than 2,000 residents in Leyte following heavy downpours in the said areas that resulted in flashfloods and landslides.

Ellalyn de Vera, Mike Crismundo & Elena Aaaben, Manila Bulletin