Tibaldo: Of Typhoons, the environment and the community

PRIOR to Ompong, Pepeng, Ondoy and Hagibis, typhoons or storms that enter Philippine Area of Responsibility were named after the spouses of weather forecasters. This was perhaps due to the attribution of indefinite or radically changing attitude of many women and Pinays wives are typecast to be extremely fierce when their husbands are caught pants down with mistresses.

I came to know this because I used to rub elbows with weather forecasters from Pagasa. We remember names such as Yoling, Gading, Diding, Titang and Sisang. Yoling with the international code Typhoon Patsy was recorded as the 27th named storm, 12th typhoon, and 7th super typhoon of the 1970 Pacific typhoon season with a wind speed of 155 mph (250 km/h) and a pressure of 918 millibar, a metric unit of pressure mainly used in European countries.

The monsoon that trailed Yoling lasted over a month and people likened it to the biblical passage of days and 40 nights that flooded the earth during the time of Noah. These names were already decommissioned meaning, it will no longer be used again because of the stigma hurting memoirs that it left to many especially relatives of fatalities and those who were gravely affected. In our exchange of social media notes, Dr. Alexander Fangonil who is now based overseas recall that as kids, they survived with rain water collected and cook with portable kerosene pump stove and similar Petromax lantern for duration usually for 3 days to a week. He said, “it was fun, no school of course, but we made toys out of tin cans and salvaged bottles. We played campuso (spinning tops) and yo-yo down our basement. Those were the days, 4-6 storm/typhoon a year. No floods till the 60s at lower Session/Harrison, except the flood-prone geologic aquifers at Rock Quarry and City Camp.”

This time around when typhoon comes, we experience swelling creeks and rivers, tree branches are falling, roofs are being blown away and cables are being snapped from posts. That is how strong this Cyclone Ompong is and it can be compared to the wrath of Typhoon Yoling. Back then, there was also a shortage of rice and we ate milled corn. A great portion of Aurora Hill cascaded destroying many houses, lives and properties. American service personnel were still at Camp John Hay that time and milk courtesy of Uncle Sam was rationed in Baguio. Ompong flooded parts of Harrison Road, Loakan airfield, lower Magsaysay Road and reports of casualties from Benguet especially Itogon municipality is truly sad. The creek beside our house that leads to Balili River in La Trinidad swelled with rainwater and I can just imagine how great it can become when it reaches the country’s salad bowl.

The remnant of the oldest pine tree that was carved by Baguio artists into a totem pole like artwork also collapsed as heavy rainwater eroded its roadside base near Mines View Park. Video footage of its collapse can even be seen as it was uploaded in social media by a netizen.

During a briefing at the Office of Civil Defense, the new Regional Director reported that the recent rainfall measured more than twice the earlier record reaching 1,600mm of water saturation as compared to the 570mm normal and the 920.8mm recorded earlier this September. We should me more alert and prepared because the soil in our areas is already saturated with more than 700 rainfall which is truly alarming the OCD head said. For the heavily built up city of Baguio, it appears that there will be more flash flooding, soil erosions and swelling of creeks and rivers will be the new normal especially that typhoons and cyclones have become more unpredictable with climate change.

This time around, we should also consider having serums for snake bites because venomous snakes have already reached the uplands like Baguio perhaps because of climate change.

At the height of Ompong, I actually accidentally stepped on a green snake measuring about two feet as my doorway was a bit dark. Luckily, I was not bitten or its fang must have been absorbed by my loose pant as I know snakes usually seek refuge in dryer places when their habitat is saturated with water. Lowland snakes like cobra has already reached the uplands and I saw one before at green valley and another at Asin Road near the Tuba-Baguio boundary. As of this writing, a press conference is happening in La Trinidad at the Provincial Capitol and DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu just announced his cease and desist order to all small-scale mining activities in the Cordillera following the effects of typhoon Ompong in the mining town of Itogon. Also, the secretary also revoked the permits given to 10 holders of small-scale mining contracts in the Cordillera effective immediately.

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