Mandaue City prepares for strong El Niño

Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes. | CDN Digital photo / Mary Rose Sagarino

MANDAUE CITY, Cebu – Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes has instructed the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (CDRRMO) to coordinate with officials of the 27 barangays and conduct an inventory of their water tanks and make sure that they have enough water supply.

Cortes also wanted an inventory of the water systems in each of the barangays and the condition of the generator sets checked.

All these are part of the Mandaue City’s preparations for the strong El Niño, which the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said may hit the country starting this month.

“Atoa gyud i-empower ang nga barangay ani’ng atoang resiliency program sa Mandaue,” Cortes said in an interview on Tuesday.

In January 2022, the Mandaue City Government purchased 2, 000 litter capacity water tanks and heavy generator sets to help the barangays address the disruption to water and power supply caused by super typhoon Odette.

Cortes said the water tanks and gen sets may also be used to lessen the inconveniences that may be caused by the strong El Niño.

In an earlier advisory, Pagasa said that a strong El Niño may hit starting February 2024.  By April, at least 56 areas in the country are expected to experience drought.

While they prepare for the El Niño, Cortes said that his administration will take advantage of the dry season to work on the declogging of canals and the desilting of water bodies as a preparation for the rainy season that will follow.

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