CITY OF ILAGAN, Isabela – Isabela’s provincial board has placed the province in a state of calamity as massive floods continue to hound villagers in the aftermath of Typhoon Ulysses.
Governor Rodolfo Albano III told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Saturday that he led the aerial surveillance and saw the "widespread damage wrought by the typhoon."
The declaration would allow the provincial government to speed up relief assistance and other help to affected villagers, Albano said.
Floods reached the roof of houses and isolated villages, he said, adding that Isabela's 10 towns in the first district were severely hit.
Albano noted that 50 out of 91 barangays in Ilagan City were inundated, along with all villages in Santo Tomas town.
"Villagers were caught by surprise. They did not expect that this is more damaging and wider in scale than the previous typhoons," he said, adding that some evacuation centers even got flooded, forcing evacuees to flee to higher grounds. (PNA)
