Flashflood causes 8-hour traffic jam

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Rains brought about by Typhoon “Karen” flooded sections of the Jose Abad Santos Avenue (JASA) here, resulting in traffic jams from Paskuhan Village all the way to Mexico town.

Around 4 p.m. Saturday, floodwaters began to rise along the city’s steel flyover and along portions of Greenville and the S and R warehouse, cutting vehicular traffic for light vehicles and causing traffic jams.

The traffic was also compounded by the exodus of vehicles and commuters from SM City Pampanga and Robinsons Starmills, causing traffic to reach as far as Mexico town’s border barangays.

Commuters and mall goers were forced to walk almost a kilometer and waded through the flooded highway to reach the city proper. People made use of the center island of the Jasa to cross the flooded highway while others boarded dump trucks and buses to cross the street.

The flashflood may have been caused by canals and waterways that are still holding much of the water from the recent monsoon rains.

Earlier, a portion of the San Fernando-Sto. Tomas-Minalin Tail Dike breached at the onset of the southwest monsoon, resulting in massive flooding in this city and the fourth district towns of Sto. Tomas, Minalin, Macabebe, Masantol and parts of Apalit and San Luis.

Meanwhile, motorists here are calling on local officials to restudy the flood control systems along Jasa and institute possible engineering measures to keep floodwaters out of the busy road that serves as the gateway to Bataan and Zambales provinces.

“Officials should seriously consider implementing flood control works here to ensure that this will not happen again. It did not rain that hard here but floodwaters coming from upstream just flooded the Jasa in minutes,” a local businessman here told Sun.Star Pampanga.

Traffic eased out after a few hours except for the approach leading to the still being constructed overpass along Lazatin Boulevard, where traffic is still slow due to ongoing construction works.