COTABATO CITY (PNA) – Some 91 houses were swept away by floodwaters in North Cotabato, while this city struggles to remove water lilies and hyacinths that clogged the Rio Grande de Mindanao, causing the massive flooding in 26 of 37 villages here.

Local health officials also aired their concern after noting the increasing number of evacuees afflicted by dysentery, fever, and skin diseases.

In Midsayap, North Cotabato, Mayor Manuel Rabara said 91 houses were swept away by floods on Tuesday evening.

He said 23 houses were washed away in Barangay Sambolawan, 39 in Barangay Ulandang, 26 in Makasindig, and three in Kadigasan, all Muslim villages in Midsayap near the border of North Cotabato and Maguindanao.

Col. Roy Galido, chief of the 40th Infantry Battalion, led about 100 men in hauling about 5,000 affected families in Northern Kabuntalan, Maguindanao, and in the low-lying villages of Pigcawayan, Libungan, Midsayap, and Aleosan, also in North Cotabato.

Officials said a three-year-old girl drowned after she was carried away by strong water current along the Matampay River.

While Abu Sama, a motorboat operator, was hurt when his boat capsized near the Matampay Bridge due to strong water current.

Flood level increased by about two meters after floodwaters combined with sea waters due to high tide.

“We are bracing for more floodwater,” Mayor Japal Guiani Jr. said.

He said efforts to remove water lilies along the Rio Grande de Mindanao were overtaken by the volume of aquatic plants moving downstream.

“Our workers removed about 20 percent of water lilies a day but another 40 percent of water hyacinth is added everyday,” Engineer Bashir Ibrahim of the Maguindanao 1st engineering district told reporters.

Guiani said the city government is expecting heavy equipment from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) regional office in General Santos City and from the national office of the DPWH.

“We expect the heavy equipment from Malacañang to arrive very soon,” he said.

He placed the total number of displaced persons in this city to about 40,000.

On the other hand, at least two Maguindanao towns were “practically erased from the map” because of floods.

“We have no more dry lands here in our town,” Northern Kabuntalan Mayor Ramil Dilangalen said.

Philippine Marines personnel, backed by Army and civilian volunteers, continued helplessly to remove hectares upon hectares of water hyacinths along the Rio Grande de Mindanao.

Diocesan priest Edwin de Gracia, parish priest of the Cotabato Cathedral, led parishioners in helping remove the water hyacinth with bare hands.