EDITORIAL - Be ready for more

Rains swelled the Butuanon River in Mandaue City the other day, causing flooding in the immediate area and forcing the evacuation of 152 families. In Cebu City heavy rains also caused the Kinalumsan River to overflow its banks. In barangays Pit-os, Kalunasan, and Kamputhaw, also in Cebu City, heavy rains were also blamed for landslides that displaced seven families.

Images of houses getting toppled or swept away, rescue workers using lifelines to evacuate stranded residents, and main thoroughfares becoming impassable raging rivers --forcing motorists to gamble with their vehicles and sometimes with their very lives-- became viral in social media.

Sad and shocking as these images are, they are nothing new; they have become more and more common with the heavy rains and the resulting floods that hit every major city in the Philippines.

Again we are reminded that some places should not be lived in because they are too dangerous and too subject to nature’s wrath or path. But it’s not just a matter of places near hazards areas anymore; many areas not previously hit by flooding or landslides are now being affected by them.

Also again, we are reminded we have to be ready to deal with heavy rains and the massive floods and landslides that result from them.

Given the runaway climate change we are experiencing we can only expect extreme weather to become more common. If you look at the news today you will notice that there is extreme drought in some part of the world and record rains in others. We just happen to be in that part of the world that sees more rain than other parts.

We have to be ready, whether it is to deal with inundated streets, to flood-proof our houses and neighborhoods, or to bug out of a threatening flood situation at a moment’s notice. What happened in Mandaue City and Cebu City recently may only be a preview of what is to come.