Floods leave 400,000 homeless in Philippine south

MANILA - Floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains have killed at least one dozen people and forced about 400,000 to flee their homes and farms in the southern Philippines, an army spokesman said on Monday.

Troops deployed rubber boats, amphibious vehicles and trucks to evacuate thousands of families marooned in low-lying areas of Mindanao, Colonel Jonathan Ponce told reporters.

"We're praying for the rains to stop and for the water level to subside so these people can go back to their homes," Ponce said, adding floods had destroyed hundreds of houses on riverbanks in Sultan Kudarat town and Cotabato City.

Ponce said floodwaters had risen to about 3-4 metres in some areas, destroying crops and property, due to almost a week of heavy rain. A dozen people had drowned after they were swept away in a swollen river, he added.

Ponce said the floodwaters also affected the marshland areas, where soldiers fought rogue Muslim rebels for nearly a year, displacing nearly 350,000 people since August 2008. Both sides agreed on a truce last month.

Landslides and flash floods are common across the Philippines during the monsoon months from May to November. The country is also usually hit by an average of about 20 typhoons a year but that number may rise due to climate change, officials have said.

"The effects of climate change is very evident in the low lying areas of the Philippines especially the Cotabato - Maguindanao Provinces. According to some of the residents that it was there first time after living for so many years in Cotabato City to experience flood where water entered there houses."