Downpour causes riprap collapse in Mahiga Creek

A HEAVY downpour caused a portion of the 200-meter riprap to collapse in the Mahiga Creek n sitio San Isidro II, barangay Mabolo, in Cebu City, last Friday.

With this, the Cebu City Disaster Coordinating Council (CCDC) said it was timely that workers had demolished  illegal dwellings there earlier in May.

“If we had  postponed the demolition, look what could have happened. It would  not just be houses that were  affected, but also the lives of the illegal settlers, ” CCDC operations chief Romulo Guarin told Cebu Daily News.

Guarin said  five houses used to occupy the destroyed riprap.

“Look what happened. Mayor Michael Rama was  right,” he said.

He said the riprap’s foundation softened due to the strong water current in the Mahiga Creek.

Displaced settlers disagreed.

Elizabeth Mohican, whose house was demolished near the riprap, blamed the city’s wrecking crew  for weakening the wall structure.

“The river wall would not have  been destroyed if not for the dredging operation. The backhoe weakened the soil. We’ve been living here  for almost 20 years and it’s the first time that this happened,” she told CDN.

Guarin said City Engineer  Kenneth Enriquez visited the place last Friday.

City engineers  will start on the rehabilitation of the riprap.

Meanwhile, in the  mountain  barangay of Sinsin, local officials ordered residents in sitio Nangka to relocate to avoid a potential landslide with  the onset of the rainy season. Correspondent Fatrick Tabada