The Calamba City Disaster Coordinating Council evacuated families from the village of Palingon to the Palingon Elementary School as water in nearby rivers overflowed on Saturday morning, said and Senior Superintendent Manolito Labador, Laguna police director.

In the Laguna towns of Mabitac, Siniloan, Sta. Maria and Sta. Cruz, residents climbed the roofs of their houses as floodwaters rose, said Fred Bragas, Calabarzon Disaster Coordinating Council information officer.

As of 12 noon, the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council had yet to give the number of affected families in the flooded towns as rescuers could not penetrate the area, said Bragas.

An unidentified man drowned in Paete town, he added.

In Siniloan, the river overflowed bringing shoulder-deep flood on a major street in the municipality, said resident Maan Leopando.

In Mabitac, the rivers overflowed causing flooding to low-lying areas in the town and submerging ricefields.

The family of Facelyn Bejo, a mother of two childen, had to climb their roofless second floor to escape the raging floods now inundating the first floor of their house, located near the irrigation system in the village of San Antonio.

Bejo said some of their neighbors who lived in shanties also sought shelter in their two-story but unfinished house.

The RDCC considered the towns of Noveleta and Bacoor in Cavite as “critical areas” due to waist-high floods. Maricar Cinco and Romulo O. Ponte, Inquirer Southern Luzon