BACKFLOODS. Governor Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado shows newsmen the areas affected by backfloods on the virtual monitoring system at the Operation Center of Bulacan Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, Sept. 19, 2018. (Photo by Manny Balbin)
CITY OF MALOLOS, Bulacan — Governor Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado has reiterated his call to the national government to possibly recycle floodwater coming from Central Luzon into potable water and for irrigation purposes in the region.
The governor, during a press conference Wednesday afternoon held at the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) training room here, said the receding floodwater from Pampanga, Nueva Ecija and Rio Chico River of Tarlac has been annually causing back flood in the towns of Calumpit and Hagonoy days after a weather disturbance has left the region.
He asked for national government's intervention to help address the perennial back flooding affecting the residents mostly of the said towns.
“Back floods from Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, and Pampanga bound to Manila Bay has struck the said catch basin towns on July, August and during Typhoon Ompong last week,” Alvarado said.
The latest report from the provincial government shows that 28 barangays are affected by back floods in the two towns. Twenty two villages in Calumpit are submerged in one to three feet of floodwater while six villages in Hagonoy are still under one to three feet of floodwater.
“And at about 8 a.m. Wednesday, 906 families or equivalent of 3,645 individuals in Calumpit still stayed in the different evacuation areas,” Alvarado said.
The governor also reported that the damage caused by flood in agriculture rose to PHP58,787,706.25 -- PHP46,214,750.25 in rice; PHP9,278,820 in fishery and PHP3,294,132 in vegetables.
To lessen the adverse effects of floods, the governor has proposed to the national government to create a water embankment for floodwater coming from Pampanga and Tarlac that can be tapped as potable water and at the same time, for irrigation purposes in the farmlands of Region 3.
“By doing so, it will lessen the flood problems in the region and at the same time, can help prevent soil subsidence due to groundwater extractions of different local water districts in Central Luzon,” the governor said. (PNA)
