School officials in Pangasinan were asked to use barangay halls and town gymnasiums as alternative classrooms as the Department of Education (DepEd) implemented a selective resumption of classes in the province after almost a week of being submerged in floodwaters.

DepEd district supervisor Teodora Nabor announced that schools in areas that have already recovered from floodwaters should resume classes.

Nabor said if classrooms were still covered with mud and flood debris, school officials should consider holding classes in alternative classroom like gymnasiums and barangay halls.

General cleaning activities will also start on Thursday to prepare school rooms for next week.

The provincial DepEd office did not mention the schools that were ordered to resume classes.

The provincial disaster coordinating council said floodwaters caused by tropical storm Pepeng (international codename Parma) damaged 70 classrooms in the province.

Data from the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) said a total of 1,118 schools were damaged in Cordillera Administrative Region and Regions 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Pangasinan was hardest-hit by floods caused by Pepeng's heavy rains with 38 cities and municipalities submerged in floodwaters, affecting 607,721 people. a total of 31,757 people remained in evacuation centers.

The NDCC said power supplies have yet to be restored in 14 cities and towns, including Basista, Bayambang, Dagupan City, Alcala, Bautista, Villasis, Balungao, Natividad, Rosales, San Nicolas, San Quintin, Santa Maria, Tayug and Umingan. With a report from Cris Zuniga, ABS-CBN Dagupan