Officials blame lahar for flooding in Negros town

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — Following “severe flooding” on Sunday, officials in La Castellana, Negros Occidental blamed the continued failure to remove hardened lahar from the town’s river channels.

The flood displaced about 200 residents in Barangay Biak-na-Bato, with village chairman Joselito Martinez saying the river overflowed to the highway and into houses.

Martinez said the hardened lahar clogged the barangay’s box culvert and the dike at Tamburong Creek, reducing the capacity of both systems to handle the flow of rainwater.

He lamented that while the Protected Area Management Board of Mt. Kanlaon Natural Park allowed the dredging of volcanic debris from waterways, it did not allow its hauling from the area.

Negros Occidental 5th district Rep. Emilio Bernardino Yulo called on the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to issue a special permit to clear the creek and other river channels of lahar.