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Wednesday, June 04, 2003
New storm causes floods in city, 8 towns
By Rhay G. Navales and Chris Navarro
SAN FERNANDO -- At least eight Pampanga towns and this city were flooded when tropical storm "Dodong" hit the province Tuesday.
Twenty-six barangays in six municipalities in the province were submerged in an average of two-feet deep floodwaters, the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council (PDCC) reported.
PDCC said the towns of Macabebe, Lubao, Sasmuan, Sta. Ana, Guagua, Masantol, Candaba, Sto. Tomas, and San Fernando City were under one to four feet deep floodwaters.
Lucia "Lutchie" Gutierrez, provincial social welfare director, said so far, no families were evacuated despite the flooding.
"Ang ginagawa ng ating opisina ngayon ay patuloy na paghahanda sa pag-imbak ng pagkain. At present, meron na tayong 1,000 cavans of rice at 2,000 cases of assorted can goods na ready at anytime pwedi nating ipamigay sa mga affected towns," Gutierrez said. (What my office is doing is to prepare foodstuffs. At present we have 1,000 cavans of rice and 2,000 cases of assorted can goods that we can distribute anytime.)
She added that they are expecting the affected towns to make similar preparations considering that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has allowed the use of the 5 percent local calamity funds in preparing for the effects of storms.
"Ang probinsya ay ready na sa kanyang task na i-augment ang mga towns sa kanilang (The province is ready in its task to augment the towns in their) relief operations. We are closely coordinating with the social welfare officers in terms of evacuating people to safe places and towns not affected by flooding," Gutierrez said.
The Department of Education (DepEd) is turning 20 percent of all classrooms in the province as temporary shelter for displaced residents, according to Gutierrez.
The PDCC also visited at least five flood-affected towns Tuesday where they distributed sacks for "sandbagging" operations.
Engineer Andy Austria, PDCC executive officer, disclosed they had already distributed some 30,000 empty sacks to the affected towns.
"Sa kabutihang palad po ay pinagbigyan tayo ng provincial auditor na makabili ng sako kahit partial lang. Na identify na po ang mga maliliit na munisipyong laging binabaha at may protective dike na masisira kaya sila muna ang inuna nating mabigyan ng mga sako pwedeng makatulong ma prevent ang pagka sira ng mga dike nila," Austria added.
(Fortunately, the provincial auditor allowed us to buy empty sacks. We have identified the flood-prone towns whose dikes experience breaches and we have distributed the sacks to them. This can help prevent damage to the dikes.)
Pampanga Provincial Board Member Mark Lapid said his colleagues in the Liga ng mga Barangay are also requesting empty sacks for use in sandbagging operations.
"Yun nga nag-request tayo kay engineer Austria para mabigyan ng sako ang mga kapitan para makapaghanda ng maayos this coming rainy season para mapigilan ang pagbaha," Lapid said. (We requested engineer Austria to give sacks to the barangay captains so they could prepare for the rainy season.)
Aside from the empty sacks, Lapid said he also requested medicines like paracetamols and anti-biotics, among others.
According to him, his father Gov. Manuel Lapid is very concerned over the situation in the province.
"Nung last ko po siyang nakausap ay kinumusta niya ang lagay dito sa atin. Concerned po siya situation dito. Ang sagot ko naman po ay under control pa naman ito at wala pang malaking abala," the PB member added. (The last time we talked, he asked about the situation in my district. He is concerned about the people here. I told him the situation was still under control.) Sun.Star Pampanga |
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