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 P20 each one way.
Almacen barangay chairman Emeterio Villapaña said the flood started at 9 in the evening of Saturday due to heavy rains caused by habagat and continued to rise 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.
“Dahil hindi sila makapagtrabaho, kailangan nila food at medicine,” Villapaña said.
Asked as to what he thought was the cause of yearly floodings in his village, Villapaña said “siguro wala nang puno sa kabundukan, wala nang pumipigil sa tubig na bumababa.”
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 as not a problem to the regular floods they have been suffering for almost 50 years.
“Ang solusyon, ingat na lang ang mga tao kasi sanay na kami. Wala ng magagawa. Hinuhukay nga ang ilog pero ganoon din,” 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.
