THE Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) stepped up efforts to repair roads, bridges and dikes damaged by floods in 182 areas in northern Luzon following torrential monsoon rains.
Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon said emergency rehabilitation and flood control operations were underway in the stricken areas.
The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) reported that six people had died and seven others were injured, while 2,200 families, or about 7,300 individuals, remained in 86 evacuation centers as of Saturday.
More than 110,000 families were affected by the combined effects of the enhanced southwest monsoon, or “habagat,” and Tropical Cyclones Luis and Maymay, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said on Sunday.
Two deaths were recorded in La Trinidad, Benguet, due to a landslide, while two others were reported in Rodriguez, Rizal, due to a rockslide.
In Luna, La Union, one person drowned and another was electrocuted.
Seven people were also reported injured, all in Benguet.
Five were injured in a landslide in Baguio City, while one was hurt in a vehicular accident in Kapangan and another in a landslide in La Trinidad.
OCD Deputy Administrator for Administration Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV said flooding was reported across northern Luzon, including Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) and Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan) regions.
Severe flooding was also monitored in Metro Manila, while landslides and rockslides were reported mostly in Ilocos and the Cordillera Administrative Region.
Floods forced 569 local government units (LGUs) to suspend classes as authorities continued to monitor swollen rivers, landslide-prone areas and communities at risk of flooding.
The DPWH has deployed engineering teams and heavy equipment to damaged infrastructure, including a dike along the Talomo River in Barangay Bangkal, Davao City.
It is also dredging shallow portions of the Talomo River to increase its capacity and reduce the risk of another overflow, as rains become more frequent.
Dizon said the priority is to restore damaged flood control structures and transportation links.
Engineering teams were stabilizing damaged dikes and restoring their ability to withstand flooding and riverbank erosion.
But Dizon is also confronting a different problem: long-delayed flood-control projects.
During a visit to Ilocos Norte, he expressed frustration over the stalled diversion channels for the Quiaoit River in Paoay and Batac City, a project that has dragged on for seven years because of piecemeal funding.
“You cannot fight nature. When heavy rain comes, water will continue to flow down from the mountains. The solution is to build two diversion channels,” Dizon said.
He stressed that the project should no longer be funded in small, fragmented allocations and must instead be completed as soon as possible.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered that the Quiaoit River diversion project be fully funded in the next budget cycle to finally complete the long-delayed infrastructure and reduce chronic flooding in Paoay and Batac.
The president has likewise directed DPWH to accelerate flood mitigation works nationwide as the government faces increasingly frequent and intense rainfall.
Dizon said the agency is shifting toward faster execution, stronger infrastructure and more coordinated disaster response to protect lives, homes, farms and vital transport routes.
More rain
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said the southwest monsoon would continue to bring rains in Metro Manila, Ilocos Sur, La Union, Abra, Benguet, Zambales, Bataan and Occidental Mindoro.
In Quezon City, authorities have activated evacuation sites in flood- and landslide-prone areas as a precaution, with 351 families or 884 individuals already evacuated as of Aug. 9.
Infrastructure damage was estimated at P105.5 million, and agricultural losses at P3.53 million.
On Sunday morning, Typhoon Maymay and a tropical depression exited the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR).
In the afternoon, a tropical depression strengthened into a tropical storm outside PAR. The storm was assigned the international name “Peilou.”
