BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan ordered the technical personnel of the local government and the Department of Public Works and Highways-Baguio City District Engineering Office (DPWH-BCDEO) to conduct an overall assessment and formulate recommendations on how to improve the city’s drainage system to prevent the occurrence of flooding in limited areas around the city.
The local chief executive explained the volume of rainfall brought by Tropical Cyclone Ompong to the city last Saturday that caused some flooding incidents along Harrison road and Burnham Lake Drive only shows that the city’s drainage system can no longer accommodate such volume of water that warrants the needed assessment on the state of the city’s drainage system for possible rehabilitation and upgrading.
Ironically, he expressed disappointment over the fact that some individuals and media entities took photos of the limited flooding incidents and projected a bad image of the city resulting to panic among residents who are living in other parts of the country and overseas.
“The limited flooding incidents in the city immediately subsided after Tropical Cyclone Ompong left the Philippine area of responsibility. The flooding was only for some thirty minutes before the water subsided,” Domogan stressed.
In the case of the City Camp Lagoon which had been the site of perennial flooding in the past, Domogan noted that flooding in the area was controlled because of the vigilance of personnel of the City Engineering Office, City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (CDRRMC), barangay officials and volunteers who stayed in the area to clear the screen from tons of garbage and other debris that were unscrupulously thrown by erring residents in upper barangays and this prevented the mass evacuation of people living around the lagoon.
According to him, concerned agencies and offices of the local government must formulate the appropriate recommendations on the strategies to prevent similar flooding in limited areas in the city and to also prevent the city being pictured as a flooded city during heavy rains and typhoons.
Based on a report emanating from the CDRRMC, the total rainfall that fell on the city on September 15, 2018 was 760 milliliters which was way above the supposed regular monthly rainfall of 565 milliliters.
He claimed that calamities happen anytime and unexpectedly that is why the best weapon to combat the serious negative effects of natural and man-made calamities is individual and collective preparedness as well as discipline in the observance of advisories from concerned authorities for people to know and understand the basic things to do during emergency situations.
He disclosed that recommendations of the inter-agency joint inspection team will be seriously considered in the planning and identification of the priority projects of the local government to be funded under the limited development funds in the coming years to at least prevent flooding incidents in certain parts of the city.
By Dexter A. See
