By BEN SERRANO
Correspondent
BUTUAN City–Five more areas in Caraga were declared under a state of calamity even as the number of people adversely affected by last week’s floods across the region rose to over 60 thousand over the weekend.
Declared under a state of calamity were the towns of Esperanza, San Luis, Loreto and Talacogon in Agusan del Sur, and Jabonga town in Agusan del Norte.
Butuan city was placed under a “state of imminent danger” last week as the water level of Agusan River overflowed.
On Saturday, the Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) said 17,419 families or 64,656 individuals from five provinces in Caraga were badly affected by floods.
The number of evacuees reached 7,348 families or 32,065 people in Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur and Surigao del Norte.
There were 108 evacuation centers in 19 towns and the cities of Butuan, Cabadbaran and Tandag.
The OCD said floodings resulting in evacuations were reported in 113 Caraga barangays.
Badly hit was one of the river towns in Agusan del Sur, La Paz, where 617 families or 3,076 people were forced to evacuate. There, 42 houses in Sagunto, Selco and Panagangan were either washed away or submerged in floodwaters, according to La Paz disaster risk reduction management office chief Cydric Cumba.
Loreto town in Agusan del Sur was also badly hit–768 families or 3,844 people evacuated there.
There were 544 families that evacuated in Veruela, 471 families in Esperanza, 402 families in La Paz and 206 families in San Luis.
Five other towns in Agusan del Sur–Talacogon, Sibagat, Bunawan, San Francisco and Trento-egistered 1,436 evacuees.
In Agusan del Norte, Butuan had the most number of evacuees at 2,118 families or 8,475 people.
At least 1,415 individuals in Cabadbaran City, also in Agusan del Norte, were forced to flee their homes in search for safer grounds.
Jabonga town had 1,193 evacuees while Tubay, Kitcharao and Remedios T. Romualdez towns 441 evacuees.
Meanwhile, the government counted 1,125 evacuees in Mainit town in Surigao del Norte.
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