CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — The Northern Mindanao regional office reported Saturday that Tropical Storm Basyang dumped extremely heavy rainfall in Iligan City, with 240 millimeters recorded over an eight- to ten-hour period, affecting 24 barangays and impacting 3,800 families, or about 19,050 individuals.
Antonio Sugarol, regional director of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), said the volume of rainfall was classified as extreme heavy rainfall within 24 hours, a level that often results in severe flooding, landslides, and infrastructure damage. He noted that 100 millimeters of rain is equivalent to about 1,000 liters of water per square meter.
“It was not ordinary rainfall. It caused the Iligan River to overflow, damaging infrastructure, farms, and houses in at least 24 barangays,” Sugarol said.
He added that a rapid assessment group is currently conducting an inventory of damages in the affected areas and will submit recommendations for rehabilitation programs covering damaged infrastructure as well as relief and rehabilitation assistance for affected residents.
No casualties were reported in Iligan City.
However, in Cagayan de Oro City, a couple and their two children were killed when a landslide buried their house in Zone One, Sitio Sambulawan, Barangay Agusan, at the height of Tropical Storm Basyang. The storm made landfall in Bayabas, Surigao del Sur, shortly before midnight on Thursday.
The city’s City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Department (CDRRMD) said the landslide occurred at around 7 p.m. Thursday. Barangay rescue teams and the city’s Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) units responded and recovered the victims’ bodies from the rubble near the flooded river.
Earlier, the CDRRMD issued a heavy to intense rainfall advisory, warning of possible serious flooding and landslides, particularly in low-lying and landslide-prone areas.
Forced evacuations were carried out in flood-prone and landslide-threatened communities, with residents brought to 16 evacuation centers in various parts of the city.