Flood causes 10-hour traffic nightmare

Motorists and commuters were stuck in a hellish 10-hour traffic jam in Quezon City Friday night when a creek overflowed because of the heavy downpour made worse by a faulty drainage system, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) officials said.

MMDA Traffic Operations Center (TOC) executive director Angelito Vergel de Dios said knee-deep floods caused the gridlock on Katipunan Avenue, Aurora Boulevard, and Marcos Highway.

Vergel de Dios said heavy traffic began to build up at around 5 p.m. and the MMDA was only able to untangle the traffic mess at 3 a.m. yesterday.

The Katipunan gridlock also affected vehicles coming from Tandang Sora, C.P. Garcia Avenue and C-5 in Libis.

"Hindi makadaan ang mga sasakyan dahil sa tubig. At nung nag-subside na ang tubig, nag-unahan naman ang mga sasakyan," Vergel de Dios said.

MMDA deputy undersecretary and flood control chief, Cesar Lacuna, said the creek near C-5 Road was on the MMDA’s watchlist but was not classified as "critical."

"The floodings in Katipunan and Marcos Highway are isolated cases because these are elevated areas," Lacuna said.

Lacuna said aside from the garbage that clogged the creek, the MMDA also discovered that an establishment along C-5 Road had blocked a waterway towards the creek.

He added that a subdivision’s faulty drainage system aggravated the situation on Marcos Highway.

Some motorists and commuters angrily claimed that enforcers had "disappeared" at the height of the gridlock but Vergel de Dios said they (enforcers) were stationed at the intersection where the traffic jam originated, such as Aurora Boulevard-Katipunan Avenue and CP Garcia-Katipunan Avenue, precisely to untangle the mess.