18 Bulacan barangays still flooded

HAGONOY, Bulacan, Philippines – While floodwaters in other parts of Central Luzon have receded, back floods continue to rise in 18 barangays here and in the nearby Calumpit town.

Vice Mayor Elmer Santos of this town said the barangays of San Juan, San Miguel, San Agustin, San Isidro, Tampok, Iba, Palapat and Sta. Monica have been submerged for two weeks now.

Santos said that when floodwaters brought by tropical storm “Ondoy” began to recede, back floods from eastern Central Luzon, compounded by the excess water released by Pantabangan Dan in Nueva Ecija, widened the submerged area.

Even in Calumpit, the flooded area widened over the weekend, covering the barangays of Sapang Bayan, Meysulao, Gugo, Calizon, Bulusan, Sta. Lucia, San Miguel, San Jose, Meyto and Panducot.

Based on experience and the amount of water released by the Pantabangan Dam last week, Santos said it would take another two weeks before the back floods would recede completely.

He said Hagonoy and Calumpit are natural catch basins of back floods from Central Luzon before draining into Manila Bay.

Caridad Robles, 46, resident of Sitio Pulo, Barangay San Jose, Calumpit, said over a hundred families in their place have been wallowing in floodwaters brought by typhoon “Kiko” on the first week of August.

Robles said their place has been flooded since the storm that struck when former President Corazon Aquino died, and that the situation has even worsened.

Robles said Sitio Pulo has been isolated by the flood, leaving farming families there hungry.

She recalled that Calumpit and Hagonoy experienced flooding for more than a month in the 1970s, and since then, had been submerged for a similar period every two years until 1978.

The massive flooding in the two towns was solved by the construction of the Labangan Channel stretching from Calumpit and Hagonoy to Manila Bay.

Engineer Jose Gabriel, of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) regional office, described the Labangan Channel as a “flood expressway.”

He said though that it must be desilted and widened to accommodate back floods brought by unusual precipitation spawned by typhoons.

Vice Gov. Wilhelmino Alvarado supported this and asked the DPWH to look into the immediate desilting of the Labangan Channel.

Alvarado said the Labangan Channel used to be deep enough to flush out floodwaters into Manila Bay.

However, it has since become shallow due to perennial flooding that carried mud from the mountains that settled in the channel, he said.