Wet week ahead with more rains and flooding

Last week’s flood scene at Bagong Silang Elementary School at barangay Pajac Lapu Lapu City, (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)

Each time it rains hard, 11-year-old Cherry Mae Pangatungan wades to school in knee-deep water in Lapu-Lapu City.

Sometimes, teachers accompany the children wading 30 meters to 40 meters through a flooded passageway when no tricycles are available to ferry them from Bagong Silang Elementary School in barangay Pajac.

The scene was repeated yesterday as weathermen warned of more rain this week in Metro Cebu due to a Low Pressure Area in Eastern Samar.

“Naay agi-anan nga walay baha pero layo man sad kaayo mao nga mo-lubog na lang mi sa tubig”

(There’s a path without water but it’s far so we just walk through the flood),” said Cherry Mae, a grade 6 pupil.

Her schoolmates no longer wear shoes to avoid ruining their footwear when the skies open up in a downpour.

The site is one of several low-lying areas in Metro Cebu that went under water, after its worst episode of flooding of the year following a two-hour downpour at 4 p.m. in Aug. 28.

In Cebu City, Mayor Michael yesterday suspended elementary and high school classes in the afternoon anticipating another downpour.

RAIN ALL WEEK

Cebu will experience rain for the entire week, said Engr. Oscar Tabada, director of the Pag-asa Mactan station.

Continuous rain will likely cause flooding in low-lying areas and sites with poor drainage system.

The Coast Guard did not suspend any sea trips, however. No gale warning was issued.

Three Cebu Pacific flights bound for Tacloban, Butuan and Manila were cancelled in the morning due to bad weather.

Yesterday, rain fell off and on, yielding a low 3.3 millimeters as of 2 p.m. according to the Pag-asa Mactan station.

Weathermen said that rainfall at 30 millimeters would definitely cause flooding in the cities.

Last Sunday, Aug. 31 had the third highest rainfall level of the month at 54.59 millimeters.

Thursday’s street floods occurred late afternoon after a day of 61.1 millimeters of rain, with the worst impact felt in cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu.

DRASTIC MEASURES

Cebu City Engineer Jose Marie Poblete said “drastic measures” have to be taken because buildings have mushroomed across the city. He said a change of attitude is needed in the way we dispose of garbage.

He said the city’s long-term P2.6 billion drainage master plan has to be reviewed because desilting and new infrastructure are not a complete answer.

“Even if we are able to implement drainage infrastructure projects, it can’t solve the problem. What we see (heavy flooding) is already the result of the problem,” Poblete said.

A list of barangay drainage projects charged to a lump sum outlay in 2012 still await approval by the Cebu City Council. But Poblete said these community projects, which are part of the city’s drainage master plan, can only solve a small part of the problem.

“Apart from the infrastructure problem, there is also the attitude problem. This is a call for everyone not to indiscriminately throw garbage. Let’s help each other, while waiting for the implementation of several projects,” he said.

Poblete, who heads the city’s Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW), said he will reorganize his staff to handle dredging and desilting of the city’s creeks and drainage lines while waiting for barangay projects to be approved.

But he admitted this is just a band-aid solution.

“It’s easier, but it’s not the ultimate solution. It can help in the the interim but the silt will still accumulate. The long-term solution should be planned carefully,” Poblete said.

But Poblete said since the city lacks the equipment to do dredge and desilting, DEPW will have to hire contractors to do the job and seek City Council approval.

He noted that past dredging work was blocked by structures built on canals and waterways.

Poblete said he would recommend buying a swamp excavator in next year’s annual budget to regularly unclog waterways but each of the 80 barangays has to help desilt and maintain their own canals.

SWAMPY SCHOOL

In the swamp-like conditions in Bagong Silang Elementary School in barangay Pajac, Lapu-Lapu City, resident Analyn Jamao, 34, said the problem of flooding started when residential houses were constructed more than 10 years ago in areas blocking the natural outlet of rainwater.

If the road’s height is elevated by backfilling, nearby residents will be the ones to suffer the flooding and stagnant water that pools, she said.

The barangay put in a water catchment but it wasn’t enough to hold the rainwater.

No drainage line has been built yet because there is no outlet or a main drainage to connect to the barangay road.

Barangay captain Jimmy Ybañez said they are just waiting for the road drainage project in the Pajac-Bankal road as the only permanent answer to the school’s flooding.

He said he didn’t know when this would be started.

Barangay Pajac is one of the low-lying parts of the city that suffers from lack of drainage or catch basins.

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