The Dumaguete City government has reported a zero casualty this week amidst heavy rains and floods that inundated many parts of the city as well as other areas in Negros Oriental.
Based on the report of the City’s Disaster Risk-Reduction & Management Office, no lives were lost as unusual heavy rainfall, sometimes continuous or intermittent throughout the week, caused the Banica River to overflow, rendering spillways impassable.
Quick Response Teams evacuated dozens of residents, and continuously monitored the flood prone barangays on orders by Mayor Felipe Antonio Remollo, who also led clearing operations of the spillways that were clogged by trash and fallen trees, causing a surge of flood waters inundating several residences and mass housing project sites, according to a City Hall statement.
DRRMO Head Jose Chiu did not recommend to Mayor Remollo any suspension of work or classes considering that while the situation was alarming, there was no basis for the city government to suspend work, especially that no storm signals were raised by PAG-ASA.
Remollo also defended his decision not to suspend work for more than 1, 500 employees of the city hall.
He cited three main reasons: the need for personnel to manage and perform search, rescue and relief of those who will affected; the need for availability of all personnel and vehicles to assist the five-day medical, dental and surgical mission by more than 156 doctors and nurses from Northern California; and the need to safely transport the 450-man Sandurot crew back to their homes from Cebu City; the crew won the City top honors in this year’s Sinulog Festival in Cebu.
“Precisely because of the inclement weather and floods, that should be a more compelling reason for all employees to be on their work stations to perform their respective tasks and promptly answer requests for assistance of the constituents,” Remollo stressed.
Nevertheless, when an emergency arose in the household of certain employees, they were permitted to leave their work station to attend to their families after due notice and permission.
Mayor Remollo, who closely monitored the city’s situation and the response of the concerned agencies, particularly the DRRMO, City Health Office, City Social Welfare Office, City Engineer’s Office and other agencies, turned his office into a de facto command center for the rapid deployment of resources and supplies to where they are most needed.
While expressing relief that no casualties were reported, Mayor Remollo called on lot owners to donate portions of their properties for the construction of boulder dikes to contain floodwaters, as he is seeking more funds from the national government for the construction of sturdy dikes in flood prone areas.
The City DRRMO identified the mass housing sites of Mother Rita, Habitat for Humanity in barangays Candau-ay, Balugo, and Cadawinonan; Scandinavian Village also in Candau-ay including barangays Batinguel, Bagacay, Bantayan, Looc, Poblacion 8, Junob, Bajumpandan, and Banilad as flood prone areas where Banica River traverses.
Meanwhile, Mayor Edgar Teves of Valencia, Negros Oriental is considering declaring a state of calamity as heavy rains in the past days resulted to flooding and damage to crops and property amounting to millions of pesos.
As of Thursday, an initial estimated damage was pegged at P30 million, disclosed Desiderio Tilos Jr., Valencia’s public information officer, but the figure is expected to go up.
For two days, Mayor Teves personally led an assessment team and to inspect the damage wrought by massive flooding especially at the Okoy River, Tilos said.
The Mayor has directed the town’s Agriculture Office and Engineering Office to submit evaluation reports before the week is over to determine if there is a need to declare a state of calamity, Tilos added.
According to Tilos, there are certain parameters guidelines as stipulated by the Department of Interior & Local Government to be met prior to the declaration of an area under a state of calamity.
Once the evaluation reports are in, Mayor Teves is expected to ask the municipal council to convene a special session where, hopefully, they will pass a resolution to that effect, Tilos said.
Massive flooding triggered by heavy rains have caused landslides, landslips, swelling and overflowing rivers and impassable roads and spillways in Valencia and nearby areas like Dumaguete City, Bacong and Sibulan.
Dikes, ripraps and breakwaters were reported destroyed at the Okoy River while scouring of riverbanks was also observed.
Meanwhile, the Energy Development Corp.’s Southern Negros Geothermal Power Plant in Valencia has mobilized its Barangay Emergency Response Teams to help monitor affected families within their partner-barangays, said Norreen Bautista, head of EDC’s Community Partnerships, External Relations & Watershed Management.
Bautista said EDC is closely coordinating with the barangay captains for updates while the company’s Energy Camp has been opened as temporary evacuation site for nearby residents.
The EDC has also “helped the local government unit of Valencia (with) a stake truck for debris clearing”, she said.
“For minor landslides in our area, we have cleared the roads to make it passable while we continue hauling the debris”, Bautista added.
EDC trains people from their host communities in Valencia to be first responders of the BERTs.
They are trained by EDC’s Emergency Response Team, according to Bautista.
Heavy rains starting early Monday, Jan. 16, that triggered flooding in Dumaguete City and other parts of Negros Oriental, causing authorities to deploy rescue teams and resources as residents also kept watch over rising waters in rivers and even in low-lying areas.
As the day progressed and the situation got worse, Gov. Roel Degamo issued a directive anchored on Sec. 2 of Executive Order 66 that suspended classes at the pre-school, elementary and high school level across the province.
Adrian Sedillo, executive officer of the Provincial Disaster Risk-Reduction & Management Council also announced that work in government offices were likewise suspended but it was discretionary on the part of the private sector.
At the Okoy River, notorious for being a “killer” river because of its history of claiming lives during floods, breakwaters/dikes were damaged, trees toppled and scouring reported in some areas.
Antonio Dales of Purok Atis in Balugo, Dumaguete City called for assistance after floodwaters scoured the ground on which his house was built.
Mayor Remollo, accompanied by the City’s Rescue 348 team and other officials, personally assessed Dales’ situation as floodwaters continue to threaten his house.
The Ticala spillway leading to Barangay Ticala in Valencia town also overflowed, cutting off access to that area and nearby barangays.
Spillways in Dumaguete also overflowed, causing the diversion of traffic as these were sealed off to the riding public to avert any untoward incident.
The road leading to the slaughterhouse in lower Banilad, Dumaguete City also because a mini-river and murky water flowed down to the highway, causing flooding also in the areas at the national highway in Banilad.
In Bacong town, the foundation of a newly-built bridge near Bambulo Resort was washed out. The contractor, PhilSouth, could not be reached for comment.
Due to rough seas, smaller vessels like the fast crafts and passenger motor bancas plying the Sibulan, Negros Oriental and Liloan, Cebu route were cancelled, said Lt. Junior Grade Donna Liza Ramacho.
However, flat-bottomed barges were still allowed to travel across the Tañon Strait between both islands despite huge waves.
The tail-end of a cold front and a Low Pressure Area had triggered the massive rainfall in Dumaguete and other areas in Negros Oriental on Monday and throughout the week, the province experienced inclement weather.
Governor Degamo, chair of the PDRRMC, has advised the public to continue monitoring weather advisories and for the local DRRMCs to undertake pre-emptive evacuation when necessary. (Judy F. Partlow)
