IT RAINED almost non-stop in the last two weeks. Many areas in Central Luzon were flooded. A portion of the SCTEX was also flooded, something I never thought would happen because the highway was well planned. Classes were suspended and in some municipalities, a state of calamity was declared. The normal daily routines of people were affected and disrupted.
Continuous rain overwhelms sewer systems and waterways resulting in flooding. Floods have an impact on both individuals and communities and have social, economic, and environmental consequences. The immediate impacts may include loss of human life or injuries, damage to property and loss of livelihood.
The deadliest flood in history was in China in 1931 where an estimated 2.5 to 3.7 million people were killed. The Yangzi-Huai River floods were a series of devastating floods that occurred in the Republic of China. It is one of the most lethal natural disasters of the 20th century.
Floods damage houses, school buildings and other structures including bridges, sewerage systems, roadways, and canals. I was in college back in the 80’s when I saw the collapse of the Sapang Balen Bridge along McArthur highway in downtown Mabalacat due to non-stop rains. Same bridge was also damaged in the great Luzon flood of 1972 when it rained for 40 days.
Floods also results in the contamination of drinking water. The lack of clean water aggravated by human sewage raises the risk of waterborne diseases. In Metro Manila, there was an outbreak of leptospirosis, a disease spread through the urine of rats. Stagnant water also becomes breeding ground for mosquitoes, giving rise to diseases like dengue. Pollutants in flood water, such as bacteria and pesticides, can be carried far distances.
Floods affect transportation, limiting the movement of people and goods. It also makes the rescue of people and the delivery of emergency supplies difficult. It affects the livelihood of people, particularly farmers. Flood waters typically submerge farm land, making the land unworkable and preventing crops from being planted or harvested, which can lead to shortages of food both for humans and farm animals. Fishpens overflows resulting in severe losses.
For the environment especially to marine species, the major impacts can be sedimentation and turbidity, garbage and human-built waste deposited from the land, toxins, nutrients and mineral deposition. Many insects and smaller mammals are affected by flooding because the excess water and rainfall interrupt their hibernation patterns, deprive them of a food source and can even drown them.
But damaging as it is, floods also have some benefits. Flooding helps spread organic material, nutrients, and sediments which enrich floodplain soils. They also replenish ground water and trigger life processes such as bird breeding events, migration, and seed dispersal in flora and fauna adapted to these cycles, while good soil moisture can allow crops and pastures to be established.
Overflow of rivers and flooding has been a natural occurrence for thousands of years. The problem today is that we built houses and buildings in natural waterways. We also disrupted the water cycle by cutting down trees in watersheds which could have slowed down or prevented floods. Now we are reaping the consequences of what we have done.