Paeng leaves 4 missing; displaces 3K families in Zambo City

FLOODS SPAWNED by Tropical Storm Paeng left four persons missing and displaced more or less 3,000 families in this southern port city on Friday.

The Emergency Operations Center (EOC) under the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) recorded a total of 42 barangays affected by flash floods with three barangays still on evacuation alert on Saturday as Paeng progressed into a severe tropical storm.

“The EOC is still verifying reports about a fatality in one barangay,” said Dr. Elmeir Jade Aploniario, CDRRMO chief, in a statement.

Apolinario said two of the reported missing individuals are from Barangay Tumaga, one from Cabatangan, and one in Putik.

Apolinario said the number of displaced families is expected to increase due to ongoing assessment

in the affected barangays.

Destruction on infrastructure projects, landslides, and felled trees were reported in other villages.

The City Engineer's Office is monitoring damage to infrastructure while the City Agriculturist Office is collating reports of destruction in agricultural farms and products.

The City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (CDRRMC), in a meeting Friday night, approved a resolution recommending the declaration of a state of calamity given the destruction caused by Paeng here.

The CDRRMC resolution was forwarded to the City Council for approval.

The declaration of a state of calamity will allow the city government and the barangays to allocate funds to address the needs of the displaced families.

Meanwhile, the Zamboanga City Water District said in its advisory as of 1 p.m. Saturday that the water level at the diversion dam is critically above normal measuring 74.78 meters. The normal level is 74.20 meters.

The ZCWD said that low pressure to no water is expected in all areas as there is low water production in its treatment plant due to turbidity.

The ZCWD said that turbidity is measured at 109 Nephelometric Turbidity Unit (NTU), which is way above the normal of five NTU.

“Treatment will take longer. Backwashing of filters will be more frequent. During backwashing, low water production,” the ZCWD said. (Teofilo Garcia, Jr.)