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MANILA (UPDATE) - The province of Misamis Occidental, as well as the city of Gingoog in Misamis Oriental, have been placed under a state of calamity due to floods on Christmas Day.

More than 170 of Gingoog City's residents were evacuated due to flash floods, according to a Facebook post by Philippine Red Cross chief Richard Gordon.

• Monsoon winds cause strong waves, heavy rains in parts of PH; deaths reported

Marlon Pajo of the Gingoog City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office said it started raining in their area on Christmas eve.

“May mga sandali lang po na medyo humihina yung ulan pero after an hour tuloy-tuloy ang pagbuhos ng ulan hanggang mag-umaga kaya nga po nagkakaroon ng pagtaas ng mga tubig sa ating mga, lahat ng mga major rivers dito po sa atin sa Gingoog,” he said.

(There were moments when the rain seemed to weaken, but it started pouring again after about an hour. It went on like that until morning, that's why all major rivers flooded.)

“Geographically, ang location po ng Gingoog is nasa gitna po siya ng mga river so most likely eh catch basin yung siyudad ng Gingoog,” he added.

(Geographically, Gingoog is near rivers so the city is a catch basin.)

According to Pajo, the flood is slowly subsiding in Gingoog, but they aren't allowing residents in evacuation centers to return home yet because of persistent rains.

In a separate TeleRadyo interview, Misamis Occidental Governor Henry Oaminal also said his province has been placed under a state of calamity.

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"After making the assessment, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, the provincial government declared the province in [a] state of calamity in order to give us enough legal basis in providing the maximum assistance for our people," the official said.

Oaminal noted that large swaths of their province were badly hit by the flooding, including the capital Oroquieta.

"And then, the municipality of Jimenez, municipality of Sinacaban, municipality of Tudela, Clarin, and the city of Ozamiz (were also affected)," he added.

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Meanwhile, in Pola town in oriental Mindoro, houses, boats, and resorts were damaged by strong waves.

“Umapaw ang tubig sa dike, though malaki na ang dike umapaw pa rin ang tubig lumaki yung baha sa tabing bayan ,yung buong halos bayan umapaw yung tubig so maraming nasirang bahay, yung mga resort nasira,” said Mayor Jennifer Cruz.

(The water in the dike overflowed despite it being big already. Many homes were destroyed, and a resort was destroyed.)

“Yung mga bangka na nasira sana matulungan kami ng national government yun kasi ang pangunahing hanapbuhay ng mga nasa tabing dagat,” dagdag pa niya.

(We hope the national government can help us with the repair of the damaged boats.)

Cruz said 300 families were affected by the floods and waves. He has distributed relief goods to affected families. She has distributed relief goods to them.

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Office of Civil Defense (OCD) Information Officer Diego Agustin Mariano said they are verifying the deaths of 2 individuals in the province of Misamis Occidental.

He also said 9 have been reported missing from the floods: 5 from Northern Samar, 1 from Leyte and 3 from Misamis Occidental.

“Yung sa Misamis Occcidental na ano, dito ay karamihan is mga nalunod so ang reported na cause of death nito is drowning. Then yung sa mga missing naman, ang iba dito is mga fishermen din na nawawala so nakaalert naman yung mga karatig na bayan nito,” ayon sa opisyal.

(In Misamis Occidental, the reported cause of death is drowning. As for the missing, most of them are fishermen so we have alerted nearby towns in case they turn up.)

Mariano said 18,407 families are affected in Regions 8, 9 and 10, which are affected by the shear line. In addition to this, 9,197 families have moved to evacuation centers or are currently staying with relatives.

Damage to infrastructure has been initially pegged at P280,000. Forty-three homes were reported destroyed by the flooding.

All roads in the affected regions are still passable.

--TeleRadyo, 26 December 2022