The local government has placed the town under a state of calamity following flashfloods that have affected more than 2,000 families here.
David Don Saure, Kabacan disaster management action officer, said Wednesday 2,071 families in at least six farming villages in the town have been hit by floods triggered by recurring heavy rains for the past month.
“Some 110 hectares of rice fields have also been damaged by the floods after the Kabacan River overflowed due to heavy downpour in the Agusan provinces and eastern part of North Cotabato,” Saure said in a radio interview.
Kabacan, situated on the border of North Cotabato and Maguindanao, has been serving as a catch-basin of floodwaters from Bukidnon, Agusan, and North Cotabato.
Mayor Herlo Guzman, meanwhile, has ordered the distribution of emergency assistance and food packs to the affected to cushion the impact of calamity.
He also ordered the town engineering office to fast-track the establishment of a sustainable flood control project to save farm products from devastation.
Meanwhile, the municipal agriculture office has sought intervention for seeds and other farm inputs for farmers whose farm lots have been damaged by the floods.
“We will rise again,” Saure told the farmer-beneficiaries and the families affected by the calamity.
He assured the public that the municipality has prepared interventions for the affected farmers.
Kabacan is a known rice granary in North Cotabato.
Source: Philippines News Agency