The floods will still come
It was not an unfamiliar scene. Parts of Metro Manila once again was transformed into a somewhat dirtier version of Venice, with waterways for roads. Dirty waterways. Typhoon Mario, along with the Southwest monsoon, dumped rains almost equivalent that of Ondoy. The rains started around Thursday night. With most of the metro asleep, nobody noticed that the rains continued throughout the night and into the Friday morning. By that time, the floods had begun to rise considerably. Frequent checks on the level of Marikina River showed just how fast a river could swell in torrential rains.
And swell fast it did. Since many belittled the continuous rain of the past night, people, especially students, started to make their way to schools and offices. But by the time they realized that floodwaters had already begun to pool in the all too familiar places, it was too late for them to turn back and head safely home.
Many were stranded on the roads. The fact that the announcement of the suspension of classes again came too late did not help to ease the already dismal plight of many students. For one in particular, it proved fatal. A medical student from UST was electrocuted when he touched a power pole while submerged in the usual floodwaters of España. He was on his way to class. He no longer made it alive to UST. If the announcement of the suspension of classes, which I think should already be automatic for UST considering the perennial flooding it undergoes at the onset of a strong downpour, was made much earlier, the student would not have been on his way to school. The same thing happened to an employee while walking along España. He was suddenly electrocuted, and never made it to the hospital either. Meralco must investigate why España becomes electrified during floods. They would probably do well to cut power off in the area when the waters start to rise, as a precautionary measure.
The DPWH has already apologized in advance to the public, because the flooding will continue until all of its projects are completed with regards to flood control. Projects like drainage and waterway clearing operations, that seem to go on forever, and the rehabilitation of pumping stations that have dated all the way back to the Spanish era. But I wonder if all these projects will have any tangible effect if conditions like the informal settler situation along waterways and the undisciplined disposal of garbage will not be addressed. We may have clear waterways and drainage, but if the habit of throwing everything into the rivers and canal continue, then what is the point? The day will come when someone has to step into those shoes and put their foot down on these issues, if only to make all of these projects work. The rainy season still has at least three more months to shut down the metro. A friend from Bangladesh once told me that not all families own cars, but almost everyone owns a boat. This is due to the fact that Bengalis have learned to live with the possibility of flooding every time the heavens open up. I think those who live in the above mentioned areas should follow their lead.
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