Tuesday, April 15, 2008 Need for efficient drainage, flood-prevention raised anew
UNLIKE previous landslides that hit Cebu City, yesterday’s incident affected not just urban poor dwellings but also upscale subdivisions, damaging appliances and leaving houses submerged in floodwater.
It called attention to the same old problems: lack of drainage and flood-prevention measures, especially in the upland areas.
Residents complained about the absence of drainage in Sitio Dakit, Barangay Guadalupe and of the upland area development project, which they blamed for the landslide.
Corazon Mulles, 52, said she and her children were already asleep when it started to rain around 2 a.m. yesterday.
A few minutes later, their neighbors started calling for help when water got inside their house.
On their way to Virginia Gaclet’s house, they saw water and limestone flowing down from the hills and the manhole nearby overflowing with floodwater.
“Paspas gyud kaayo ang panghitabo…TV ra gyud akong nasalbar kay gisiguro namo among kaugalingon kay niabot na man gyud sa atop dapit ang tubig (Things happened fast…I was able to get only a TV set because we had to save ourselves first as water level already reached the roof),” Mulles told Sun.Star Cebu.
Gaclet, 33, was not able to save their three television sets, refrigerator and DVD player from the flood. Their pet mongrel also did not make it alive.
The affected residents were still busy trying to salvage whatever clothing and house ware they could find when welfare officers, barangay officials and tanods visited them around 10 a.m. yesterday.
Their children also used pails, cans and other containers to remove mud from their dwellings but to no avail, since the limestone were drying up.
Gaclet’s and Mulles’ houses, which are made of light materials, stand on their parents’ lot, which they sold to former Cebu governor Lito Osmeña.
The property was developed into an upscale subdivision, Maria Luisa South.
In a nearby plush subdivision just behind the submerged houses, Letty Watts and her husband were busy moving things out of their house after floodwater from their drainage overflowed and entered the structure.
Furniture, carpets and appliances had to be moved after they were soaked in floodwater and limestone.
Landco officials also assured the Watts that they will take preventive measures to avoid a similar incident.
“It’s very disappointing because, from our house, we can see that they just dump limestone in their construction site and it can be washed away anytime. That’s why I told them ‘You’re a very big developer but I just can’t believe you would just dump it there.’” Watts told Sun.Star Cebu.
Her neighbor, businessman Alex Tan, said the South Plains Homeowners Association is already consulting their lawyer to find out what legal action to take against the developer of Monterrazas de Cebu.
Since construction of the residential resort began, limestone, mud and silt have overflowed in the subdivision’s drainage, he said. (LCR)
