HERMOSA, Bataan, July 30– Three villages here on Sunday were submerged in flood waters up to five feet deep due to heavy rains caused by the southwest monsoon or habagat triggered by typhoon ‘Gorio’.
Flooded were barangays Almacen at five feet deep and Daungan and Pulo at both two feet.
Fishing bancas were the only means of transportation in Almacen and Daungan. Passengers were charged PHP20 each one way.
Almacen barangay Chairman Emeterio Villapaña said the flood started at 9 p.m. Saturday due to heavy rains caused by habagat and continued to rise on Sunday because of the high tide.
The village head said affected were 1,000 families who as in past floods chose not to evacuate but to remain in their houses or their neighbors.
“Since they cannot work, they need food and medicine,” Villapaña said.
Susan Cruz, 53, said they have been experiencing the flood in Almacen when she was still a child.
She said the complaints on some fishponds hampering the flow of water in the wide Almacen River is not a problem has nothing to do with the regular floods they have been suffering for almost 50 years.
She said that the problem on floods is already there since she was still young and there was no fishpond yet during that time.
“The solution is for us to be extra cautious since we used to it (referring to flood) . I think there is nothing that can be done. The river is being dredged, but still the same,” Cruz answered when asked what she thought was the solution.
What she was referring was the multi-million peso dredging in the river that started April 2017.
Laughing, she even said that they were enjoying the flood. (Ernie B. Esconde/PNA)
