No water, landslides hit CDO

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — Residents in several parts of the city woke up to low water pressure or no water at all on Saturday, after the Cagayan de Oro City Water District (COWD) reported service interruptions affecting both the west and east service areas.

At the same time, the City Engineer’s Office confirmed that landslides were reported in some upper barangays following heavy rains.

City Engineer Joel Momongan said heavy equipment was immediately deployed to clear large boulders and rocks blocking roads in parts of Macasandig and Lumbia. Fortunately, no injuries or casualties were reported.

COWD said the water interruption began around 10 p.m. on Friday and was caused by low water flow from its bulk supplier, Cagayan de Oro Bulk Water Inc. (COBI).

In an advisory, COBI explained that continuous heavy rainfall caused high turbidity levels at the river source, clogging intake screens and compromising the raw water supply.

Cleaning and de-clogging operations will be conducted once river conditions become workable.

The affected areas in the West Service Area include Lumbia from T.O.P. to the Airbase or Old Airport, Canitoan, Pagatpat, Upper Carmen, Patag, Bulua, Iponan, and Opol. In the East Service Area, areas affected are Upper Macasandig, Tibasak, Camaman-an, Lapasan and portions of Gusa.

COWD said the situation is emergency in nature, which is why no prior advisory was issued.

The water district added that it is coordinating closely with COBI and will provide updates once the situation improves and water service starts to normalize.