EDITORIAL - La Niña alert: More floods

Can substandard or, worse, non-existent flood control projects be corrected or constructed as soon as possible?

The government will have to do this, with deliberate speed, because extreme weather attributed to climate change could soon be exacerbated by La Niña, which could develop beginning next month until December.

Yesterday, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration warned that there’s a 70-percent chance of La Niña developing in the fourth quarter of the year. The weather phenomenon brings heavy rainfall in this part of the planet.

PAGASA warned that La Niña would bring more tropical cyclones, above-normal rainfall and therefore increased risk of floods and landslides across the country. Players in the agriculture industry warned that a La Niña event could trim Philippine rice production.

In the past weeks, extreme rainfall even during brief thunderstorms caused torrential flooding in many parts of Metro Manila and several other areas in Luzon.

Among the problems cited by disaster mitigation experts for the catastrophic flooding are old drainage systems that have not been expanded to match the population boom, unplanned urbanization that has dammed up creeks as well as natural catchments and paths for rainfall, and indiscriminate garbage disposal.

And yes, all those controversial flood control projects have aggravated the problem. Residents have complained that several of the projects effectively made waterways shallower and narrower by turning the bottoms and walls into concrete.

With climate change making extreme rainfall the new normal, and now the likelihood of La Niña, people could be grappling with destructive floods all the way to Christmas.

Ghost projects will take time to remedy, but substandard ones can be reinforced or corrected ASAP. Floods have triggered deadly mudslides and have caused death and massive destruction. Even as the nation is focused on holding public officials and their cohorts in the private sector accountable for large-scale corruption involving flood control projects, interventions are needed to mitigate the disruptions and damage expected when more floods occur.