Rescuers rescuing children from the flood. Philippine Coast Guard

Civil defense officials on Monday reported that nearly 46,000 people were forced to leave their homes in the Philippines due to flooding on Christmas Day. Eleven people had died, and 19 more were missing due to severe seasonal rain in the southern and eastern parts of the nation. The nation's most significant festival, celebrated by most Catholics, was dampened by the flooding that struck the south on Sunday. According to Misamis Occidental province governor Henry Oaminal, rivers overflowed and flooded rural towns, highways, and the cities of Ozamiz and Oroquieta. "The waters rose above the chest in some areas, but today the rains have ceased," civil defense worker Robinson Lacre told AFP by phone from Gingoog city, which accounted for 33,000 of the 45,700 people evacuated from their homes. At the height of the flooding, the coastguard claimed to have saved members of more than twenty households in Ozamiz and the nearby town of Clarin. The coastguard shared images of rescuers cradling young children pulled from their homes at night in waist-deep flooding. Seven fatalities were reported in Clarin and the neighboring southern towns of Jimenez and Tudela, most of which were due to drowning. BKM/ Expat Media
For all the latest news from the UAE and the world, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and subscribe to our YouTube page