At least 10 classrooms of a school in Mandaue City, Cebu were flooded when torrential rains hit Cebu island on Thursday, July 30, and Friday, July 31, 2026.

These classrooms are on the ground floor of the Mayor A.S. Fortuna Elementary School in Barangay Guizo.

On July 30, floodwaters reached waist deep that students had to be ferried from the school on rescue boats.

Jean Bangquiao, a Grade 1 teacher, told GMA Regional TV Balitang Bisdak that she started calling parents to fetch their children at around 1:30 p.m.

However, just minutes later at around 1:50 p.m., floodwaters started rising.

“Kusuga naman gyud… 1:50, 1:55… alast dos, ni-swimming pool naman diretso… lawom na kaayo nya naa koy mga eight (students) nabilin, maong gitakas na namo sa taas,” Bangquiao said.

Karen Bolok, the school principal, said it always flooded in their school each time it rained but that was the first time since she assumed as principal that floodwaters rose that high.

“Sige’g baha, sir. Sige’g uwan, sige’g baha… wala gyuy kuan nga dili mobaha…

Sa akong ka-assign diri, that was the first time nga ingon ato kadako nga baha,” she said.

Morning on Friday, July 31, students, parents, and teachers worked together to clean the classrooms that were flooded.

However, at around 10 a.m., rained poured down again and floodwaters entered the rooms anew.

By this time, the students who helped clean the rooms have left the school. The parents who remained lent a hand again to scoop floodwater out of the rooms.

Bolok said she hopes the city government will implement, soon, a planned drainage project that would flush floodwater straight out to a creek nearby.