‘Reming’ erodes parts of anti-lahar megadike

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga – Portions of the P1.4-billion megadike started to crumble anew amid strong rains dumped by tropical storm "Reming" here yesterday, while howling winds totally destroyed three houses and partially damaged 27 others in Candaba town.

Dr. Emmanuel Guanlao, chief of the Pampanga provincial disaster coordinating council (PDCC), said some 100 meters of the Palaman dike in Minalin town also collapsed, triggering heavy flooding that forced 250 families in nearby barangays to flee to evacuation centers.

Many parts of Central Luzon were left with no electricity at the height of the storm Saturday night. Power was restored yesterday morning in Tarlac, Bataan and Bulacan, but most parts of Pampanga remained without power as of late yesterday afternoon.

Guanlao inspected the U-shaped, anti-lahar megadike at the Pasig-Potrero River yesterday noon and found the dike’s eastern sections crumbling anew at the boundary of Porac and Bacolor towns. These sections were repaired only recently by the Department of Public Works and Highways.

Unless the damaged sections are repaired, lahar flows from the Pasig-Potrero River could slam and destroy the dike’s remaining concrete covering, endangering parts of Porac, Bacolor and San Fernando.

Earlier, Guanlao discovered that the damaged sections were made only from compacted lahar materials, instead of soil as spe-cified in the project design.

In Bulacan, Jun de la Cruz of the provincial disaster coordinating office, said the water level at Ipo Dam reached 100.78 meters at 10 a.m. yesterday, past its spilling level of 100.5 meters. Water from the dam was gradually released yesterday and was expected to cause some flooding in Norzagaray town.

Partial field reports from the province showed that flooding has affected 2,728 people in Malolos, 4,379 in Meycauayan, and 10,192 in Marilao.

De la Cruz said deep floodwaters have rendered the Lulumboy-Vitarich Road in Bocaue impassable.

In Bataan, Tess Senora, deputy chief of the PDCC, said no part of the province experienced flooding.

Guanlao said "Reming’s" winds totally destroyed three houses in Barangay San Agustin and partially damaged 27 others in Paralaya in Candaba. The power outage in almost the entire province prevented the council from updating its flood situationers in at least eight heavily flooded towns.

The heavily-flooded Pampanga towns are Lubao, Sasmuan, Guagua, Minalin, Macabebe, Masantol, Sto. Tomas and Candaba.