CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines – Nearly 120 families from 12 villages in Cagayan de Oro evacuated to safer grounds on Thursday morning, December 16, due to heavy rain and flooding, hours ahead of the landfall of Typhoon Odette (Rai).

Floodwater also rendered several roads and parts of the highway that links Cagayan de Oro and Iligan impassable.

It has been raining for hours in Cagayan de Oro, a city in Northern Mindanao next to the Caraga region, where Odette is forecast to make landfall. State weather bureau PAGASA had said on Wednesday, December 15, the city was included in a “circle of uncertainty.” (READ: Signal No. 4 up due to stronger Typhoon Odette)

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Officials feared more floods and rising floodwater with the intermittent and sometimes heavy rain. In some areas, floodwater was chest-deep.

City Administrator Teodoro Sabuga-a Jr. said evacuations have started. The City Social Welfare and Development Office counted 116 families who fled their homes in search of safer grounds in a dozen barangays in Cagayan de Oro as of 10 am Thursday.

The city hall said floods forced people out of their homes in Balulang, Bulua, Carmen, Consolacion, Iponan, Macasandig, Patag, Tablon, Puntod, Barangay 7, Barangay 23, and Barangay 24. – Rappler.com