City Project Fails to Stop Flooding

Even if the Cebu City government had spent millions of pesos for the dredging of creeks and desilting of drainage systems, it did not stop the flooding of several downtown streets and other areas of the city when the creeks and rivers overflowed during the heavy downpour on Wednesday night.

Mayor Michael Rama narrated that he personally visited the areas that had a history of flooding, particularly the Mahiga Creek in Barangay Mabolo, to observe the situation. He found out that there was no flooding in that place similar to the January 25, 2011 flooding at the North Reclamation Area.

The mayor admitted that several downtown roads, including D. Jakosalem, Manalili and Colon Street, had been flooded with knee-deep while brown colored water coming out from the overflowed drainage systems and creeks.

“Kinahanglan na g’yud nga lingkoran sa mga opisyal kining maong problema aron kapangitaan og sulbad,” the mayor said. He is hoping that the incoming members of the Cebu City Council will no longer stop him from implementing anti-flooding projects.

The mayor also asked the public, particularly the residents of the different sitios of the city to refrain from indiscriminately throwing their garbage because it will clogged up the drainage systems and can cause floods during heavy rain.

The city had earlier contracted several private construction companies to dredge several creeks and rivers in Cebu City, but the observers said the contractors did not dredge the portions of the creeks that are situated in the interior portions, which is already far from the road.

While the downtown streets in Cebu City are flooded with rainwater that overflowed from the Parian Creek, the waterway that passes under several department stores in downtown area going to Pier 3, the flooding did not reached the creeks near the sea. This only proved that the dredging of creeks, which was funded with close to P100 million by the city government, was not properly implemented.