By MAVIC CONDE
Bulatlat.com
ALBAY, Legazpi City — Oas Mayor has asked the national government for financial aid to urgently reconstruct the town’s collapsed dike, causing life-threatening mud floodings in downtown villages along Cabilogan River during the onslaught of Typhoon Kristine (Trami).
“We ask PBBM to help us urgently reconstruct the collapsed dam because everytime it rains the mudwater will spill over, making our after-typhoon efforts futile,” Mayor Domingo Escoto Jr. told Bulatlat in an interview.
Escoto claimed that this is the town’s most devastating typhoon experience to date due to mud, unlike previous typhoon aftermaths in which clearing operations could be done within five days.
According to Escoto, the river’s endpoint, which is Bato Lake, is already silted and needs an outlet, otherwise it will always result in floodings of nearby towns as what happened to Libon and Oas.
“We might need semi-dam dikes to hold the river’s water capacity, while the Bato Lake needs desiltation. But our urgent need is to block the side of the river with collapsed dike,” he said.
As of October 24 data of the local government of Oas, 16, 587 families, or 73,206 persons are affected by the typhoon. Casualties, if any, is not yet reflected in the report provided to Bulatlat
Meanwhile, affected residents in Barangay Ilaor Norte claimed that they already knew that this would happen.
Raquel Dineros, whose house along the dike trail was swept by the flood, said she already expected it for several reasons.
One of them is that their dike is the lowest in the downtown area, in addition to being worn out because of super typhoon Rolly (Goni) in November 2020. Its substandard quality hasn’t escaped her, either
“You’ve seen it, right? It wasn’t evenly filled out. The weakest corner easily gave way because the sand bagging as a filler wasn’t enough to support the surface.”
A laborer who was fixing the groundwater source of a household next to Dineros’ now-empty place chimed in, saying “there was no steel foundation here, only rocks plastered with cement.”
The laborer who asked for anonymity caught the difference in quality because he said he used to work in constructing the seawall in Legazpi City.
The collapsed dike costed Dineros their family house, with attached piggery and a stock room, a portion of her neighbor’s house including the toilet, as well as leaving the entire town with a pile of chores that involve a lot of cleaning and washing.
Since she’s a Barangay Tanod (village watch), her two children were already at the Barangay Hall at the time to seek shelter, while she helped with assisting fellow residents who needed evacuation, including her neighbor who had to run for her life when the dike collapsed.
“It felt like we’re paralyzed after losing everything, but at least there was no casualty in the family,” Dineros said.
She hopes that aids, especially clean water supply is on its way.
“I’ve got two dry undies and shorts. We need clean water most especially for drinking and cooking.” (JJE, RTS)
