Severe flooding hits 2 Metro Cebu cities

STRANDED A large number of commuters are left stranded in Barangay Banilad, Cebu City on Monday afternoon after a heavy downpour spawned widespread flood that submerged the streets along the northern section of the city. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

CEBU CITY — Store vendor Ana Alpuerto had a busy day ahead with a lot of family errands to do, including caring for an ailing relative.

But her schedule went awry when a heavy downpour that began at 3 p.m. on Monday quickly turned into a deluge, transforming major streets in the cities of Cebu and Mandaue into rivers and submerging in two meters of floodwater the houses and commercial areas in the two leading Metro Cebu areas.

Alpuerto, 54, a resident of Barangay Alang-alang in Mandaue City, said she was grateful that her family’s home was not as badly damaged by the flood, since a number of residents in her city had to be evacuated from their flooded houses.

Felix Suico Jr., head of the Mandaue City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, said four houses were affected by a landslide in Sitio San Jose, Barangay Maguikay, prompting the evacuation of about eight households.

At least six other villages —Tipolo, Cabancalan, Subangdaku, Pagsabungan, Ibabao-Estancia and Banilad—were severely flooded.

Unusual

In both cities, disaster response and fire department personnel were kept busy undertaking rescue operations as hundreds of commuters—mostly commercial establishment workers, students and teachers and school personnel —were stranded as floodwaters started to surge around 3:30 p.m. or just half an hour since the heavy rains began.

Major thoroughfares in the two cities were covered in at least a foot of water, creating major traffic gridlocks that last up to late in the evening.

In Cebu City, most of the flooded areas were in the north district barangays of Mabolo, Apas, Banilad and Talamban, where many high-end commercial establishments are found. The poor drainage system in these areas was unable to cope with the sudden rise of water, said Councilor Jerry Guardo, chair of the city council’s committee on infrastructure.

But Guardo said that Monday’s flooding was “unusual” since the city’s downtown area, which would usually get flooded during heavy rains, was spared. INQ

READ: Intense to torrential rains inundate parts of Metro Cebu