CITY OF MALOLOS, Bulacan – First District Congressman Jose Antonio R. Sy-Alvarado trooped to the Communication Command and Control Center (C4 Room) of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) here Friday afternoon to personally assess the effects of Typhoon “Gorio.”
Bulacan PDRRM Officer Liz Mungcal briefed the young solon on the flooded villages in the coastal towns of Hagonoy and Calumpit, the perennial catch basin of floods during stormy weather. At least 15 barangays where submerged due to heavy rains and high tide in the said towns.
Mungcal said “Gorio” has already intensified into a typhoon while maintaining its speed and direction.
Mungcal said in Hagonoy town, the villages of San Jose, Sta. Monica, Sto. Rosario, Sagrada, San Pascual, San Nicolas and Sto. Nino were flooded by heavy rains that was aggravated by high tide.
Eight villages in nearby Calumpit town namely Sapang Palay, Gatbuca, Frances, San Miguel, Catmon, Bulusan, Sta. Lucia and Gugo were also submerged under flood waters due to heavy rains and high tide.
She also told Sy-Alvarado that classes in all levels were suspended in the Cities of Malolos and Meycauyan and in the towns of Obando, Hagonoy, Guiguinto, Paombong and Calumpit.
Inside the C4 Room, Mungcal showed Sy-Alvarado the track of tropical storm “Gorio” at the livestream monitor and told him the province and the rest of the country will still be pelted by heavy rains over the weekend based on the weather forecasts of the Philippine Atmospheric and Geological Service
Sy-Alvarado asked Mungcal if people in his district were evacuated but Mungcal replied no one has been evacuated because the riverway can still hold the volume of water brought by the typhoon and the province of Nueva Ecija did not experience much rainfall.
The congressman also studied the flood map and waterways particularly in the flood-prone towns of Hagonoy and Calumpit.
He said the government should plan a long term solution to address the flooding and mitigate the effects of climate change which he said is now affecting the coastal areas of Bulacan and adjacent provinces within Manila Bay.
Sy-Alvarado, who is spearheading a massive clean-up of rivers and waterways in his district, said dikes should be constructed in the coastal villages of Hagonoy.
“Some villages in our coastal areas is virtually sinking due to high tides and for being the catch basin of backfloods during stormy weather. This is the effects of global warming and climate change that we should face and address,” Sy-Alvarado sai8d. —EMIL G. GAMOS