CALASIAO, Pangasinan – Most of the 24 barangays in this municipality are under water due to flood as a result of heavy rains from the southwest monsoon or ‘‘habagat’’ and successive tropical cyclones.

Thousands of residents were surprised by the height of the flood.

A knee-deep flood in Barangay Lasip went up chest deep while gutter-deep turned into waist deep in Barangay Mancup.

Water in Barangay Talibaew near a river reached almost the second floor of houses.

Barangays appealed for immediate rescue. People were looking for places to stay with a second floor but were not accommodated due to lack of space.

"Kailangan namin mangupahan kahit isang buwan at wala na kami matutulugan na kama at lubog na lahat, " a young couple from Barangay Lasip said.

(We need a place to rent for a month. We don’t have place to stay because we are flooded)

Puto or rice cake vendors at the plaza here were closed on Thursday due to high water level in their stalls.

“Sa plaza ma’am wala po nagbukas kasi malalim. Pero ung puwesto namin na malapit sa Mitsubishi open po,"  Renan dela Cruz said.

(We did not open at the plaza because the flood was high. But we are open near Mitsubishi)

Rufo, father of Renan, and the president of the puto producers association, said their shop near the Calasiao Junction is open.

Former Calasiao Mayor Mark Macanlalay said that an expert could really help determine what really caused flooding here.

Macanlalay suggested using lidar technology to determine the reason. Lidar technology, he said, could be used for topographical mapping using a drone to scan the terrain to identify flood zones.