Thousands flee as floods anew S. Philippines

Thousands of people fled their homes as flooding brought by a low pressure area inundated dozens of villages in southern Philippines, a local officials said Wednesday.

In Davao del Norte province, about 1,700 families moved to higher ground as three river systems burst their banks, submerging homes and hundreds of hectares of rice paddies and banana plantations, according to provincial vice governor Victorio Suaybaguio Jr.

In the hardest-hit Kapalong town, floodwaters of up to ten feet swamped the town center, briefly trapping 80 children attending a youth camp. Soldiers and local residents were able to rescue the children.

Two settlements were wiped out as floodwaters gushed into Valencia city in Bukidnon province on Tuesday evening and some 2, 500 people were forcibly evacuated by soldiers, according to Colonel Leopoldo Galon, spokesman for the Eastern Mindanao Command.

"Strong water current from overflowing the Pulangi river proved too dangerous for soldiers and rescuers to venture into flooded areas by rubber boats so three Air Force helicopters had to be called in to airlift those villagers trapped in rooftops," Galon told Xinhua by text message.

The flooding in Bukidnon happened even as the province has yet to fully recover from the catastrophic floods brought by Tropical Storm Washi last week that had left at least 40 people dead there.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said about 10,592 families or more than 53,000 people were affected by the flooding that affected 14 provinces across the country.