EDITORIAL - Cataclysmic flooding

The inundation, according to residents, was reminiscent of the cataclysmic flooding spawned by tropical storm Ondoy in September 2009. That deluge saw people fleeing to the upper floors and rooftops of their homes, and vehicles being swept away by torrents that rose rapidly.

Yesterday, a state of calamity was declared in San Mateo, Rizal and several other areas that were worst hit by the floods spawned by the monsoon-enhanced tropical storm Karding. Thousands sought shelter in cramped evacuation centers. In neighborhoods where the floodwaters had subsided, residents picked through the rubble of ruined homes and streets thick with mud and littered with trash for items that could still be salvaged.

Palace officials said President Duterte wanted to know why the flooding was so severe. During Ondoy, blame was heaped largely on global warming. This time, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources yesterday suspended quarrying operations in Rizal and neighboring areas as authorities moved to determine whether the extraction activities contributed to the seriousness of the flooding. 

Denuded watersheds have caused flash floods that have left thousands dead since the one that struck Ormoc in Leyte in November 1991. That freak flood, which roared down from the mountains as the city slept, left up to 8,000 people dead or missing. A shortage of coffins and fears of disease outbreaks prompted city authorities to bury bodies in mass graves.

That killer flood didn’t leave enough lessons on the need to protect watersheds. On Feb. 17, 2006, after days of torrential rains and a minor tremor, a chunk of a mountain cliff was dislodged and came crashing down, burying the entire village of Guinsaugon in the Southern Leyte town of Saint Bernard. The official death toll was placed at 1,126.

Ondoy unleashed a month’s worth of rain in just six hours in Metro Manila and neighboring provinces, leaving more than 460 people dead. While deforestation was not to blame, the flooding gave urgency to improving disaster preparedness. The flooding spawned by Karding shows that the preparedness as well as efforts to preserve watersheds still have a wide room for improvement.