Flooded Medellin road cleared after typhoon

The flooded roads in Medellin town were cleared over the weekend but Mayor Ricardo Ramirez said the relief is temporary and more work is needed to ensure that they remain open.

The Curba-Panugnawan road which collapsed during the height of typhoon Ramon have been filled with limestone and flattened with a roller. Water subsided in the barangay Lamintak Norte provincial road.

But Ramirez said the Curba-Panugnawan road needed a strong concrete foundation since it usually gets washed out during floods.

He said he requested Provincial Engineering Office to help out solve the perennial problem.

The municipal government is willing to give counterpart funds to repair the road by providing limestone filling materials, he added.

He said the flooded Lamintak Norte provincial road leading to barangay Poblacion needed a better drainage system due to the rising number of households in the area as a result of commercial development brought about by the golf course.

Ramirez said the existing culverts crossing the provincial road is already incapable of accommodating the rainwater, which resulted to stagnant waters for four days during rainy weather.

The existing drainage system in the road section was built during the time of then governor Lito Osmeña.

Ramirez said he will ask help from the Capitol about the issue since this is a provincial road.

The mayor said the town is still willing to give its counterpart in the repair and improvement of the drainage system.

During the height of typhoon Ramon and several days after that, Ramirez said  floodwaters in four houses rose up to chest-level.

Last Saturday, motorists complained about the dust from the limestone fillings at the Curba-Panugnawan road.

A downpour caused mud to flow down, slowing the traffic of trucks and buses headed to the ports.

The road is important not just for Malapascua-bound tourists but also to other neighboring provinces like Masbate and Leyte. Reporter  Dale G. Israel