FLASHFLOODS triggered by heavy rains brought by a low-pressure area submerged some parts of Caraga region and Eastern and Central Visayas on Monday and forced the evacuation of thousands of residents, police and disaster officials said.

National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council chair Undersecretary Benito Ramos said waist-level floodwaters hit parts of Surigao City, Surigao del Norte, Consolacion, Cebu, Cebu City, Mandaue City and St. Bernard, Leyte.

Ramos said several areas in Surigao and Agusan had to be closed to traffic due to the floodwaters.

However, except for a 19-month-old girl identified as Roan Libres who was reported missing in Barangay San Roque in Surigao City, Ramos said they still have no reports on any casualties as local residents had already evacuated to much safer areas before the floods came.

The NDRRMC said 300 persons have been evacuated in Consolacion, Cebu while another 74 families composed of 725 people living in three barangays in St. Bernard, Leyte have already left their homes due to the flood and possible landslides.

St. Bernard was the town where hundreds of people were buried in a major landslide in 2006.

In Camp Crame, Philippine National Police chief Director General Nicanor A. Bartolome said police rescue teams have been fielded to rescue nearly 300 families trapped by ceiling-high floodwaters on the rooftops in Valencia City in Bukidnon.

Bartolome said  no casualties have been reported in the area as of press time.

In Eastern Visayas,  Police Regional Office 8 director, Chief Superintendent Arnold Revilla said floodwaters have affected several barangays in Leyte as a result of continuous heavy rains. Revilla said that in Dagami municipality alone, 70 percent out of its total 65 barangays are already submerged in water. Others affected by floodwaters are the municipalities of Baybay, Palo, Abuyog, Tolosa and Tacloban City.

Revilla said a minor landslide was also reported in Bgy. Pinut-an in San Ricardo, Southern Leyte.