Acting Cebu City mayor vows to improve programs vs flooding

Acting Cebu City Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia promises to address flooding in the different parts of the locality. Photo from Facebook

CEBU CITY — Acting Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia of this city has apologized to people inconvenienced by the heavy flooding in the different parts of the city since Monday, September 11.

He gave assurance that the local government has been proactive in its campaign to prevent massive flooding.

“All these, which we do regularly, has helped ensure that the waters quickly subside when there are flash floods (although) it doesn’t prevent flash flooding,” he said in a statement published on the city’s online news portal on September 14.

“We now need to look at other measures addressing runoff water from the developed and presently-being-developed sites,” he also said.

The Cebu City government has set aside P8 billion for its drainage master plan but only a fraction has been utilized.

READ: Severe flooding hits 2 Metro Cebu cities

City Councilor Jerry Guardo, head of the council’s committee on infrastructure, said about P1.8 billion of the budget was spent on flood mitigation projects in Barangays Tejero, Tinago, T. Padilla, Lorega San Miguel, and Zapatera.

The amount was also used for dredging and desilting projects at the Lahug, Bulacao, Kinalumsan, and Guadalupe rivers as well as the Tagunol, Tejero, and Mahiga creeks.

But Guardo said some parts of the drainage system are under private properties.

“That is really a challenge for us. We have to give them (private property owners) just compensation so the city will be given the right of way and then we can implement our flood-control project,” he explained.

Residents in the cities of Cebu and Mandaue have to deal with floodwaters during incessant rains from Monday to Wednesday.

READ: Metro Cebu execs seek lasting solution to floods

The heavy volume of rain and the clogged drainage channels were seen as the cause of the severe flooding, according to Harold Alcontin, head of the Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office.

The flooding affected the parking lot of a large mall and a subdivision in Barangay Banilad on Monday.

Another high-end subdivision was also severely affected by the flood which reached about 2.5 feet high.

Alcontin said he and his team discovered that the drainage facilities in Barangay Banilad, where the mall and subdivision were located, were not regularly maintained.

“Due to the clogged up drainages, floodwater spilled off to the road, causing the flood,” he said.

To address the matter, Alcontin recommended to the city government to unclog the drainage facilities in Banilad.

He said he already asked the Department of Engineering and Public Works to deploy its personnel to clean up the drainage facilities in the area.

READ: Floods prompt evacuation of some individuals in Mandaue

But Gaisano Country Malls, whose parking lot was severely flooded last Monday, believed the “unprecedented” incident had something to do with the construction of high-rise condominiums within the area.

“For over 30 years since Gaisano Country Mall was built, it has withstood superstorms and cyclones. It has never been flooded, and there has been no incident of flooding to the extent that was experienced last Monday. These typhoons are a testament that the drainage system of Gaisano Country Mall has held up to the standards and even more,” it said in a statement posted on Facebook.

“We can’t speculate but we have reason to believe that the recent influx of high-rise condominiums within the area had something to do with the situation. The drainage systems of these high-rise condominiums must have contributed to this unprecedented deluge within the parking bay of Gaisano Country Mall and the other surrounding areas,” it added.

READ: Floods hit some areas in Mandaue, Cebu cities

The mall management said it is conducting a thorough investigation to determine what should be done to prevent the same or similar incident from happening again.

The investigation, it said, includes a detailed assessment of its drainage system and those neighboring the mall within the vicinity to identify the root causes and areas for improvement.

“We remain committed to making necessary upgrades to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future,” the mall management said.