“I HAVE never seen rain pour like this.” Bukidnon Gov. Jose Ma.Zubiri yesterday said this even as he confirmed that over 500 families were forced to evacuate in the cities of Valencia and Malaybalay on Tuesday due to rising floodwaters. “It rained so hard here,” Zubiri told the Gold Star Daily. “I have never seen anything like this in Bukidnon.” Zubiri said floodwaters displaced hundreds of families in at least six villages in the province’s two component cities. He said it rained in Malaybalay and Valencia non-stop, causing waist-deep floodwaters in some of the villages. “The light rains started in the morning but by noontime, it was already raining hard, and it did not stop. It just poured. All my life, I have never seen rain pour like this,” Zubiri said. He said villagers started evacuating in the afternoon, and the capitol had to effect a forced evacuation in some areas. Zubiri said many of the displaced families have sought refuge in government-owned facilities in Malaybalay and Valencia, and many of them were still there as of yesterday afternoon. “We’re taking care of them,” he said. Elsewhere in Mindanao, continuous rains also displaced many families. In Maguindanao, for instance, at least two thousand families in 12 municipalities were displaced as a result of continuous rains, officials said.