Five houses were swept away when a flash flood struck parts of Cebu Province on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020.
The raging current also damaged 34 houses, six classrooms, a footbridge and a flood control infrastructure.
More than 3,000 individuals had to be evacuated.
All in all, 30 barangays in the towns of Asturias, Balamban, Compostela, Poro and Tuburan and Danao City were inundated by water brought about by the heavy downpour.
According to estimates of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) Cebu Station, an equivalent of between 90,000 and 270,000 drums of water were dumped in these areas last Wednesday.
The flood claimed one life.
Waren Jay Almaden, 27, drowned after he and his motorcycle were carried away by floodwaters in Danao City.
Could the tragedy have been avoided?
Last September, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau 7 sent letters to local government units (LGUs) in the province to remind them that some of their barangays are susceptible to flooding and landslides.
The LGUs have been provided with geohazard maps that identify disaster-prone areas so they can’t feign ignorance. Granted, they have other pressing matters to attend to like keeping their residents safe from the coronavirus pandemic, but the fact remains that these things happen every time there is a heavy downpour.
There is no excuse then for the LGUs and the people in these areas to be caught unprepared.
It’s no coincidence that the 30 barangays in the six LGUs are identified as prone to natural disasters by the geohazard map. But the lone casualty suggests that LGUs and residents do know what to do in these situations. Otherwise, the death toll would have been higher.
They were also given a heads up last October, when the weather bureau announced that “above normal rainfall” would be expected in most parts of the country in the last quarter of the year due to the La Niña weather phenomenon.
For people who live by or close to a waterway or in the mountains, the danger of flooding or landslides is always present. Many of them just can’t up and leave and head for safer ground because they can’t afford to.
And where is safe, anyway?
In a country that is visited by natural disasters every year, there is no avoiding typhoons, earthquakes or volcanic eruptions.
The government and residents are resigned to this fact, which allow them to quickly pick up the pieces and move on. That is, until the next disaster strikes.