Thankfully, we
are seeing the end of a hot and humid summer with the onset of the rainy season
this week, if we’re to go by the most recent forecast of PAGASA.
The imminent onset of the rainy season is certainly welcome
news for farmers who have suffered huge crop loses from the drought arsing
from the El Niño weather phenomenon.
The
bad news, as we know, is that El Niño could be with us even with the rainy
season. That piece of news is music to the ears, however, of dealers of
airconditioning units and electric fans.
For
city residents, the rainy season is most welcome as it definitely offers relief
from the sweltering heat of the previous weeks.
But
another piece of bad news is that the rainy season also brings with it the dire
prospect of flash floods in low-lying areas of Metro Manila.
Malacañang
has given assurances that there are ongoing flood-control projects that would
elimite this perennial problem.
But
the Department of Public Works and Highways has also asked the public for
patience as its key flood control projects have been delayed for one reason or
another.
Take the case of
the Blumentritt Interceptor Catchment Project, aimed at alleviating perennial
flooding in Sampaloc district in Manila. The completion of this infrastructure
project has suffered a setback because the drainage pipes the DPWH wants to
install are blocked by the pipes that the MWSS water concessionaire uses to
deliver water to households and businesses in the area.
The same delay
is evident in a dainage project in Maysilo in Mandaluyong City where residents
have to bear with constant flooding, even when there's no rain.
During the past
weeks, low-lying parts of Metro Manila had been flooded after only a few hours
of rain.
The government
tells us that drainage improvement projects are now being rushed, but up to
when shall we wait for deliverance from this seemingly unceasing scourge of
urban life?
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Image by: Ishmael Ahab
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