Governor Lilia Pineda, Environment and Natural Resources Office (ENRO) Head Art Punsalan and Mayor Rommel Concepcion monitor the extent of damages wrought by typhoon Falcon in barangays San Agustin and San Roque in Sta. Ana town. Photo Courtesy of Jun Jaso, Pampanga PIO
CLARK FREEPORT – The Pampanga provincial board declared yesterday a state of calamity in this province, even as Gov. Lilia Pineda appealed to the national government for heavy equipment to remove tons of water lilies blocking waterways and preventing floodwaters from flowing into the Manila Bay.
Pineda, who inspected dikes being breached by strong currents in Floridablanca town, cited partial reports saying that damage to infrastructure and agriculture in Pampanga could be worth no less than P300 million.
“It is frightening because Pampanga was not a direct hit of tropical storm Falcon,” she said in an interview following a housing summit hosted by Vice Pres. Jejomar Binay here.
Pineda said that floodwaters from higher areas in Nueva Ecija and Aurora continued to flow towards Pampanga. Several meters of dikes along the Kaulaman river in Floridablanca and the so-called “tail dike” at the Pasig Potrero river in San Fernando and Bacolor were breached yesterday, thus worsening flooding in the areas.
“Tons of water lilies from upland areas in Nueva Ecija have descended to block waterways. I also noticed garbage as contributory factor in preventing floods from flowing into the Manila Bay,” Pineda added.
Problems on water lilies was also cited in the recent flooding in Cotabato City, which recently led to an exchange of words between Pres. Aquino and the town’s mayor.
Provincial information officer Joel Mapiles said that as of yesterday, 18 of Pampanga’s 21 towns, including the City of San Fernando, remained heavily flooded, affecting 88,185 families. A total of 2,029 of these families remained in evacuation centers.
Classes remained suspended in most of the affected towns where many school buildings were also submerged by floods.
Noting unusual weather patterns worldwide, Pineda said she is slated to meet with the Department of Education (DepEd) to discuss the possibility of relocating schools to areas not prone to flooding.
“We can’t go on repairing school buildings every year because every rainy season, they get damaged by floods. We must move these schools to safer grounds, so we also prevent the education of our kids from being disrupted over long periods by floods,” she said.
