Flooding hits several areas in Bacolod

By: Glazyl Y. Masculino

BACOLOD City – Several areas here experienced flooding caused by heavy rains on Thursday afternoon.

City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) cluster head Joemarie Vargas said flooding was heaviest in the south portion of the city.

“Water rose in the areas of Libertad Market, Mabini Street, Rosario Lacson Streets, Araneta-Magsaysay Streets, portion of Barangay Taculing and Barangay 10, Reclamation area, in front of a shopping mall, and from 9th to 17th Lacson Streets,” Vargas said.

Although the water immediately subsided in some areas, other portions in the city experienced two-foot deep flood, which is more than the normal flow of water from the Mambuloc creek.

Vargas said the main cause of flooding is still garbage, because it usually clogs the drainage systems.

He said the expected rainfall volume on Thursday was from 1.5 mm to 1.8 mm only.

However, they were surprised by the heavy cloud formation in the areas of Bago and Guimaras which poured 18mm of rain.

“It was not normal because supposed to be it’s still the dry season,” he said, adding that the city also experienced a thunderstorm.

A portion of the ceiling of the Bacolod Real Estate Development Corp. (Bredco) port terminal also fell down amid the heavy rains.

There was a problem on the building’s downspout which caused water to clog in the ceiling.

Fortunately, nobody was injured in the incident because the terminal was already closed an hour before it happened.

Meanwhile, Bacolod Lone District Representative Greg Gasataya said on Friday that he immediately called up Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) district engineer Abraham Villareal to help the city government in checking manholes and drainage systems to prevent more floods caused by heavy rains.

Gasataya said Villareal told him that the DPWH already has funds for the implementation of the drainage system but it was not materialized because of the election ban on public works.

He is appealing to concerned agencies to hasten the implementation of the additional drainage systems when the election ban is lifted.

The congressman also appealed to the public to be responsible with their garbage because authorities pointed it as the primary cause of clogging in the drainage.