AS HEAVY rains on Monday led to the collapse of a road portion in Barangay Malolos, Barili in midwestern Cebu, the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) ordered all disaster and rescue offices in the different municipalities to prepare for a new weather disturbance.
State weather bureau Pagasa said in a weather advisory at dawn Tuesday, August 9, 2022, that another low pressure area (LPA) was spotted 630 kilometers east of Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur.
The provincial disaster office also reiterated its call on the residents to heed the warning of Pagasa to avoid harm.
“I ask the local communities to listen to their Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Offices and the barangay. We will keep on monitoring the local government units, and if there is a heavy rain there should be preemptive evacuation in flood-affected areas,” Wilson Ramos, interim officer of PDRRMO, said in a mix of English and Cebuano on Tuesday.
Ramos said consecutive days of rainfall in Cebu last week had damaged public infrastructure.
In Malolos, Barili town, the intense rain caused the soil to rupture and eventually disintegrate 200 meters of national highway along the Toledo-Pinamungajan-Mantalongon-Aloguinsan road, said Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Cebu third district engineer Suzette C. Nwanaka.
Nwanaka told SunStar Cebu Tuesday that the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) will evaluate the condition of the soil and provide recommendations to DPWH for the repair of the damaged road.
Cebu Third District Rep. Pablo John Garcia said in a statement that cracks were visible even in grassy areas. He also urged the MGB to evaluate the soil and provide a recommendation to the DPWH to “build back better” the damaged road.
Nwanaka said initial damage to the infrastructure was P9.8 million.
On Tuesday, aside from the collapsed road in Barili, a landslide was also recorded in Barangay Lower Kawasan, Alegria town at 10:05 a.m.
Landslides were also recorded earlier in Camp 4, Talisay City, Lower Becerril, Boljoon town in southern Cebu and in San Fernando town.
The continuous rainfall last week also caused a P1 million hanging bridge in Barili to collapse, and flooding in barangays Guadalupe and Valencia in Carcar City.
Demolition
In Cebu City, where Mayor Michael Rama has ordered the immediate removal of settlers within the three-meter easement zone of waterways to prevent casualties during heavy rains, some 250 more makeshift homes within the easement zone of Kinalumsan River in Barangays Mambaling and Duljo Fatima in Cebu City were up for demolition Tuesday. The demolition had started Monday with 40 illegal structures torn down.
City Councilor Jerry Guardo, chairman of the committee on infrastructure and urban planning and development, said around 2,000 illegal structures that encroached on the three-meter easement zone of the city’s rivers would be cleared to give way to the four flood control projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways in Central Visayas (DPWH 7).
The DPWH 7 is widening waterways including the Lahug River, which traverses barangays Tinago, Tejero, Zapatera and Lorega San Miguel (two flood control projects); Kinalumsan River; and Tagunol creek in barangays Cogon Pardo and Basak Pardo.
Guardo said at least 600 structure owners had already received financial aid from the DPWH, but not all had vacated their dwellings yet.
He said the implementation of flood control projects has been delayed as there are properties that stand on titled lots within the easement zone that cannot be demolished without following the legal process. / ANV, IRT, PAC, TPT