Floodline

Rhona Canoy .

Part 1

SO… I recently read somewhere that the city’s chief executive in his last term will be focusing his attention on, among other things, the flooding situation. I was quite amused by this statement, wondering about the purpose for this declaration. He has already been reelected for his final term so the need to seek support from the populace is no longer necessary. Although it is a grandiose effort to gain approval, there is for me a tinge of sadness that he must resort to this since the solution to our problem of inundation is mountainous and if it hasn’t been achieved over the last six years, then to do so in the next three seems ridiculous.

To be an environmental engineer or a civil engineer is one I have never hoped or aimed to be, although many of the practical applications we face on a daily basis would prosper with some knowledge of these professions. I will present this disclaimer early on in this column to clarify things. Any and all ideas following are merely flights of fancy and semi-logical deductions on my part. If, by some fluke, there are ideas here that are helpful, please feel free to use them without fear of copyright or patent infringement.

For as long as I can remember, there have always been portions of our city which are flood-prone. Even in my childhood years, when the population and garbage pollution was much less. When my dad was mayor, I remember a few times when I was privileged enough to accompany him on his routine ocular inspections whenever there was a heavy downpour. He would drive around to these areas to check on the flooding situation, concerned with the people who chose to live there. The areas of greatest concern were Macabalan-Puntod, Corrales Extension, the whole area where Limketkai Complex is now (which used to be marshland), Bonbon-Bayabas, and the river banks on both sides of the river, up to Balulang on the west, and lower Macasandig on the east. Actually the same high-risk areas now.

To solve our flooding problem is not going to be easy. If I were given the political power to work on it, the first and most obvious thing I would do would be to get the most capable specialists (which I would assume must include geologists and all sorts of engineers, sociologists, and urban planners) to study the fall of the land, to fully comprehend the impact of water coming down from the mountains especially during rainy season, and how this egress would be affected if it should happen when the ocean tide was at its highest. It cannot be denied that the force water exerts on its surroundings is awe-inspiring. And how we must give into it is a matter of serious concern.

Our flooding situation is never going to be solved by just installing a few major storm drains. So far, I count three — the one in Agora which at the moment leads nowhere, the one in Carmen at the new Gaisano site which at the moment leads nowhere, and the pair alongside the Kauswagan highway which at the moment leads nowhere. I’m not really sure what exactly these are to do in helping the flooding problem. They are supposed to drain out into our mighty Cagayan River, at points which are too near its mouth not to be affected by tidal changes. And I’m assuming these would also affect the amount of water in the river trying to make its escape into Macajalar bay. This is not even taking into account the amount of trash being dumped into our drains, which then would also wash out into the river and into the bay.

The stupendous amount of infrastructure needed to even make a dent in our flooding problem would make the most corrupt official drool. To create a system of storm drains in our city would require a major revamp. Large areas would have to be demolished in order to strategically place these tunnels where they would have the most use. To date, all flooding infrastructure has placed so much delicate concern on keeping our property owners happy, with the approach of minimal destruction. At least that’s what I call it.

Add to this situation the growing amount of development in city, which our local government unit prides itself on. Yes, thank you. We welcome the influx of construction because it provides jobs, and points to the economic boom which can mostly be seen on our traffic-laden roads and highways. But filling in so much land to build on without taking into serious consideration the water that is to be displaced by the development is always apparent in hindsight. There is no apparent drainage planning when these projects are underway. Case in point the area along the Recto Highway from Corrales all the way to the Agora-Puregold intersection. And that’s a long stretch.

We could all already see the potential flooding even way back when Ayala Centrio construction was begun. After all, that whole area which used to be the Floirendo property housing Mindanao Motors was a low-lying field, next to where the old kangkong marshes used to be. By the way, those kangkongans are now where the Town Center complex is, housing Yakimix, the stretch known as Luna extension. We already saw how that was going to impact flooding in that area. Moving eastwards, when the SM Downtown Premier construction began, we could already see the flooding impact that was going to create, and that’s not including the traffic into this discussion.

That Osmeña area was already doomed even before the SM development came into the horizon. That area was already affected by the expansion of the Capitol University campus, and the commercial buildings constructed along that stretch between Recto and Gaabucayan streets, also prime marshland back in the day. When those were reclaimed and turned into real estate, there was no plan for proper drainage because the expectation was that Bitan-ag Creek could handle the outflow.

This is where the discussion ends for now, and I’ve only just touched on that one eastern area of the river delta. You’ll just have to wait for Wednesday to see where this is going. I hope you’re interested enough to catch the next chapter.