Peñablanca town suffers from first supertyphoon experienced by Cagayan

The whole province of Cagayan remained without power on Thursday after suffering the onslaught of supertyphoon Lawin, although no casualties have been reported thus far.

A report from Jun Veneracion on GMA News TV's News To Go showed the damage done by Lawin in the town of Peñablanca, where the typhoon made landfall around 11 p.m. Wednesday.

Roofs of several houses made of light materials were blown away to power lines and other structures.

The roof of a gasoline station was seen tilting to almost falling off, while the roof of a soda warehouse totally disappeared.

The report said Peñablanca started experiencing heavy rains around 9 p.m. Wednesday until 1 a.m. Thursday, followed by a lull due to the eye of the storm, and another downpour between 2 a.m. to 4 a.m.

Meanwhile, Gov. Manuel Mamba said the province is reeling from the first supertyphoon that made landfall in their province.

Mamba added the province still has no reported casualty due to early enforced evacuations despite heavy rains and strong winds, noting they have yet to re-establish communication with other communities.

The provincial government conducted pre-emptive evacuations in coastal areas and residences along Cagayan River on Wednesday and settled them to covered gymnasiums.

As of 8 p.m. on Wednesday, the report said more than 23,000 persons were sent to different evacuation centers. —Joseph Tristan Roxas/KG, GMA News