THE Mandaue City Government purchased 27 heavy-duty suction pumps and each of the city’s 27 barangays received one of the machines on Friday, Feb. 26, 2021.
Each suction pump costs around P100,000 with customized braces.
Buddy Allain Ybañez, head of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO), said the City purchased the suction pumps to address the flooding in some areas of the barangays and to suction puddles left after a downpour.
The City Government also purchased a suction pump in the past. But the machine can serve only eight barangays identified as flood-prone areas. Some of the barangays include Subangdaku, Cabancalan, Casuntingan, Alang-Alang and Paknaan.
Ybañez said the City decided to purchase advanced machines for all the barangays.
The newly purchased suction pump can suck up to 200 liters of floodwaters in two seconds as its engine works at 16 horsepower.
The CDRRMO had taught the barangay personnel the proper way to use the suction pumps before the turnover ceremony.
Ybañez said not all barangays in the city are at risk of flooding.
However, a downpour could happen any time and can cause flooding in areas that had not experienced it before. So, Ybañez said, it is better to equip all barangays.
The CDRRMO has updated its list of flood-prone barangays to 11. These are Cabancalan, Tingub, Tabok, Maguikay, Tipolo, Alang-Alang, Paknaan, Looc, Labogon, Umapad and Basak.
Last Wednesday, Feb 24, the Mandaue City Government turned over two all-purpose dump trucks to Barangays Tabok and Paknaan. Other barangays had already received their dump trucks last year. (KFD)