Text and photo by Erwin Mascariñas
Correspondent
BUTUAN City — Heavy rainfall from Super Typhoon Uwan (international name: Fung-Wong) caused widespread flooding in Butuan City and parts of Remedios T. Romualdez in Agusan del Norte on Nov. 8, forcing hundreds of families to evacuate, even though the areas were not under an official typhoon signal.
The rains began after midnight and continued into the morning, causing local waterways to overflow and inundating homes and streets. Residents reported water levels rising as high as waist-deep in some communities.
Families sought refuge in evacuation centers as their houses quickly flooded.
According to the Butuan City Public Information Office, the typhoon-induced flooding affected 17 barangays in the city. A total of 552 families, or 2,306 individuals, were impacted by the deluge.
In addition to the flooding, several trees were uprooted across Butuan and Agusan del Norte.
While these areas were outside the official wind signal zones, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration warned that Uwan was expected to bring occasional strong to gale-force gusts to exposed coastal and upland areas of Palawan, the Visayas and Mindanao on November 9.
