A flooded street in Davao City. Heavy rains since Sunday night flooded most of the Mindanao City and forced the suspension of classes on Monday. AKP IMAGES/KEITH BACONGCO
DAVAO CITY, Philippines -- Public elementary and secondary schools here cancelled their classes Monday morning after most parts of the city were submerged in flood waters following a heavy downpour that started Sunday night.
City Administrator Wendel Avisado said Mayor Rodrigo Duterte ordered classes suspended after he received reports of high floods in downtown streets. The announcement at 6 a.m. came just in time when students were preparing to leave for school.
Dr. Helen Paguican, Davao City schools division superintendent, said Duterte’s memorandum was enough to suspend the classes.
"Because of the continuing heavy downpour and flooding, we have to cancel classes. This was made after consulting with the authorities, including the education department. We cannot wait for something bad to happen to our children before we cancel classes," Avisado said.
While Duterte’s memorandum was primarily intended for public schools only, private schools also cancelled their classes.
The floodwaters started to subside at 9 a.m. but the skies of Davao remained overcast.
The Office of the Civil Defense (OCD)-Southern Mindanao Region said the public must always be ready for more flooding as the rainy season progresses because 80 percent of Davao City is flood-prone.
Edgar Solanio, information officer of OCD, said the location of Davao made it flood-prone, especially at high tide. The city lies on top of “waterland” and the surface soil does not really have water absorption capacity, according to Solanio. "All we have to do is to be ready for more flooding. Drainage systems can only help by draining out the water but it cannot entirely solve the problem," Solanio said.
Duterte, the head of the city disaster and coordinating council, already encouraged the public to take an active role in addressing the drainage problem of the city, considered the top reason for flooding.
He said city residents should not dump their household wastes in open canals and waterways.
Copyright 2009 Mindanao Bureau. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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