215 families displaced as floods hit Cagayan, Isabela villages

At least 215 families have fled their homes in Isabela and Cagayan provinces amid floods caused by incessant rains since Friday.

Authorities said 180 families were evacuated to schools in the villages of San Juan, Nararagan and Cabayu in Ballesteros, Cagayan and 35 more families were affected by flooding in lo-lying villages in Benito Soliven town and Cauayan City in Isabela province.

Local authorities in the two provinces said that the evacuations started on Friday afternoon following heavy rains that caused flooding in the low-lying villages.

Bonifacio Cuarteros of the Cagayan Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office said they have deployed rescue teams to monitor more possible incidents of flooding in low-lying villages.

Cagayan had been placed under a state of calamity due to damages caused by Typhoon Nina, which hit the country during the Christmas weekend. —report from Villamor Visaya Jr./ALG, GMA News