4-year-old girl dies, mother survives after floodwaters swept them away in Naga City

CEBU CITY–A four-year-old girl drowned while her mother survived after they were swept by floodwaters early morning on Monday in a mountain village in Naga City, about 23 km south of here.

Rey Mantalaba, Naga disaster personnel, identified the girl as Aileen Rose Paquit.

He, however, was not able to get the name of the girl’s mother.

Paquit and her mother were still sleeping inside their shanty located on a valley in Barangay Patag, Naga when the house was swept by flashflood about 7 a.m.

At that time, the girl’s father was not in the house since he was working in Cebu City as construction worker.

The flashflood was triggered by the collapse of a concrete fence of Patag Barangay Hall after it gave way to the rainwaters that had been deposited on one side of the fence and had reached about four feet deep.

The cascading rainwater flowed directly to Paquit residence which was on a valley and ripped a hole on their wall.

Mantalaba said that the girl’s mother lost grip of Paquit while they were being swept by the floods. She survived by hanging on to a tree.

Neighbors found the girl’s body on a rock, about a kilometer away from their house.

Mantalaba said the girl was still breathing when they arrived in the area, a mountain barangay located about 10 km away from city hall.

He performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) while they were bringing the girl to his office so she could be checked by their in-physician. But Paquit died along the way.

It had been raining hard since midnight in Naga, said Mantalaba.

He said they had been sending advisories to residents along Tinaan, Pandan and Balirong rivers to prepare for evacuation should floodwaters start to overflow.