Paralyzed by floods

In parts of Metro Manila last Friday morning, vehicular traffic was at a standstill after a downpour spawned a flash flood up to 12 inches deep along EDSA at the Santolan intersection in Quezon City. Seeing a taxi stalled in the flood, thousands of motorists stopped their vehicles along EDSA and waited for the water to subside a bit.

The result was a monstrous traffic jam along EDSA and surrounding areas. But the flooding wasn’t as bad as the one that hit several barangays in three towns and a city in Bulacan early yesterday. At daybreak, people could be seen taking their morning coffee on rooftops as their houses were submerged several feet deep in floods.

The southwest monsoon was forecast to bring rains, but there was no storm or typhoon on Friday. Different factors have been blamed for the floods in Metro Manila and Bulacan. The serious flooding despite the absence of a strong weather disturbance should lead to an urgent review of flood control programs by both the national and local governments.

In Metro Manila, contractors of the infrastructure projects now underway should not overlook the importance of installing effective drainage systems and protecting natural paths for rainwater to drain into rivers and the sea.

In Bulacan, residents blamed illegal logging, charcoal making, and the conversion of watersheds into residential areas in the Sierra Madre mountain range for the flash floods that inundated San Jose del Monte, Sta. Maria, Bocaue and Marilao. Nearly 200 families had to be evacuated before the water began subsiding before noon. Disaster officials denied that the release of water from dams caused the flooding.

There are many low-lying, floodprone areas all over the country including in Metro Manila, but there’s still a wide room for improvement in flood control. An official of the Department of Science and Technology said Friday’s flash floods should lead to a review of the capacity of the drainage system in Metro Manila to absorb massive amounts of rainwater.

The inadequacy was evident during the onslaught of Ondoy in September 2009 – and that was just a tropical storm. After that cataclysmic flooding in Metro Manila, improvements were promised in flood control. Last Friday’s flash flood showed that nine years later, much more needs to be done.