A single motor pump siphons water out of the area . (CDN PHOTO/ TONEE DESPOJO)
The Lapu-Lapu City government added yesterday two more water pumps to the one siphoning water out of four flooded low-lying sitios in Barangay Basak in Lapu-Lapu City.
Mayor Paz Radaza ordered the city’s Clean and Green Office to add more water pumps to hasten the declogging operations and siphon the water out of the flooded sitios.
Efren Impong, Clean and Green Office head, said they were hoping that the declogging operations would be done by Saturday morning.
Impong, however, said that if it would rain, then they would stop the operation and wait until the rain would stop.
“But once it rains (heavily) again, we will halt the declogging operations. It’s no use if we’re going to continue despite the heavy rains. Hopefully, if it doesn’t rain once again, this area will be cleared of floodwaters by Saturday morning,” Impong said in Cebuano.
Impong said that the sitio was flooded and there were areas submerged in waist-deep waters after eight hours of rain.
Impong estimated the floodwater accumulated in the area at around 15,000 liters.
The affected sitios are Iba, Tondon, Sudtongan and Sto. Niño.
Impong said the sitios cover around 2 hectares of land.
Jun Rey Estomago is a long-time resident of Sitio Iba, Barangay Basak of Lapu-Lapu City.
His house is within the flooded area, which used to be a clearing where people can have sightseeing experiences of airplanes taking off and about to land in the nearby Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA).
Residents wade in knee-deep water in Sitio Iba, Barangay Basak, Lapu-Lapu City . (CDN PHOTO/ TONEE DESPOJO)
Now, there are three city-owned pumping machines, each of which consumes energy up to 7.5 horsepower, stationed to siphon floodwaters out of the area day and night.
Estomago, a father of three, said the floodwaters made it difficult for his children to go to school.
He said that he had to carry each child on his back so that they would not get wet on their way to school.
“I started carrying them on my back as early as 6 in the morning in order for them not to get late. After I dropped one in the waiting shed right by the road, I went back and carried the other one,” said
Estomago in Cebuano, whose children are studying in the Basak Elementary School in Lapu-Lapu City.
Estomago said that the sitio had been prone to flood since factories and industrial complexes began to rise around the area.
“We’re used to it but at the same time, we worry whenever it rains really hard because we have to adjust to the floodwaters again,” he said in Cebuano.
Another resident, Afron Borromeo, 42, said he breeds different fishes in a pond near his flooded house.
Now, he said he lost 23 fully grown Kois and 6 carps.
“I sell each adolescent koi at P2,000. Fully-grown kois are sold at P6,000 each. My clients are mostly Chinese pet owners or those who own pet shops in the downtown area. It takes a lot of time, money and effort to breed and culture fishes, especially kois and carps, and I don’t think I can start breeding again,” Borromeo said.
Residents at the sitio also rely on water wells, but with the wells submerged by the floodwater, they had to buy gallons of mineral water for their daily use.
Borromeo and Estomago are among the residents asking the city government to provide them with safe supply of water.
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