Getting used to pluvial flooding

Uriel Quilinguing .

IF something happens often, be it desirable or not, most of us become apathetic.  More so, if it is a natural hazard, affecting us in varying degrees of inconveniences which, despite employing mitigating strategies, remain unabated.  

Regardless of the weather advisory, Cagayanons and those from nearby communities have been used to pluvial flooding in Cagayan de Oro’s urban areas after an hour or so of heavy rain. And that happened again last Monday afternoon (June 10), after six months of dry spell.

As early as 3 pm, thick dark clouds were hovering over the upland Bukidnon towns of Baungon, Libona and Manolo Fortich; rains must have already been falling intensely there that moment. And, it will not take long Cagayan de Oro will have its share of the downpour, and be the reservoir of runoff floodwaters from the hinterlands. 

But it was business as usual in Cagayan de Oro; shopping malls teeming with shoppers, traffic enforcers blaring their whistles in heavy flow of vehicular traffic, aspirants of the 2019 Miss Cagayan de Oro being interviewed, and a block-timer-turned-lawmaker staging a melo-dramatic defense at the City Council, after drawing public outrage for tongue-lashing a former city mayor.

True enough, at about 4 pm the heavy rain came and in a matter of minutes, city streets metamorphosed into waterways, some portions of which were impassable to motorists.

Fortunately, most schools have already dismissed their learners already. Taking a ride, however, was difficult. Many students walked home wet. But many parents were wary of their kids who were still in schools which were having two-shift of classes due to lack of classrooms, including kindergartens of flood-prone East City Central School in Barangay Lapasan.

Many schools, situated in low-lying areas, were flooded. One of them was Lapasan National High School which started groundworks for a P5-million drainage project. It’s school principal announced during the project launch in the morning, in the presence of officials from the Department of Public Works and Highways and Department of Education, that “flooding will be a thing of the past.” Ironically, seven of its classrooms were flooded that afternoon.

I wonder if members of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council were on their toes that late afternoon to extend assistance to stranded commuters, guiding motorists to avoid areas that were no longer passable, and possible evacuation of affected residents.

After the 2011 “Sendong” incident, the city government through the CDRRMC installed state-of-the-art instruments in strategic areas along rivers, specifically on bridges, that can send alarm signals to nearly residents for them to prepare for evacuation. Perhaps, similar instruments can be put in place in flood-prone areas for the same function, including streets that posed danger to motorists due to rising floodwaters.

There have been guidelines on the suspensions of classes, that there are instances where school officials may unilaterally stop the holding of classes without the need for a formal declaration from the schools division superintendent. 

Now, that the city government has received donated buses from a transport company, perhaps these could be used as school buses for stranded students, and other pedestrians as well.

Members of the City Council should enact an ordinance requiring all commercial malls and business establishments to regularly issue weather advisories, through their public address system—instead of all music and advertisements—including announcement on the onset of rains. Those inside the business establishments have little time to prepare and to respond to hazards of flooding because they have no way of knowing.

If only those inside the malls know it was already cloudy, or the rains have started to pour, then they could have rushed home without being stranded. Those whose cars were parked could have taken back their vehicles before sidewalks and park areas became flooded.