Solve flooding once and for all

Flood-prone Cebu City, with its denuded mountains giving way to human settlements, waterways clogged with even more human settlements, and sorry excuses for drainage canals clogged with filth from all of these human settlements combined, can only look with envy at the world-class flood control system of Ormoc City in Leyte.

But of course Cebu City did not have to pay the gut-wrenching cost Ormoc City had to pay to ensure that no flood ever again destroys as much and as many as it did in 1991. On November 5 of that year, a devastating flood swept through the city with such unforgiving horror that, according to reports, some 3,000 lives were lost in a tragedy felt around the world.

Interestingly, the first to come to the aid of Ormoc was Cebu City, stirred into action by a Cebuana named Gwen Garcia, who was an Ormoc resident at the time and whose voice on radio was the only voice that painted vivid accounts of what happened, making it clear to anyone who heard the kind of urgency needed.

But while Cebu City, and soon after the rest of the country, provided the most immediate needs of the crippled city on the west coast of Leyte, it was the foreign contributions that eventually charted the course Ormoc was to take away from the path of future destruction.

In 1998, the Japanese government approved a grant of P800 million for the construction of a flood control system that would ensure Ormoc's future generations will not see another tragedy the likes of which decimated their city. By 2001, Ormoc was the proud location of a world-class flood control system the likes of which cannot be seen anywhere in the country.

The Japanese-funded project, while built by Filipino hands, strictly adhered to Japanese specifications. Knowing Japan's constant flirtation with natural calamities, these specifications had to be followed to the letter to ensure the intent of the structure was realized.

The rivers that run through Ormoc were cleared of all human settlements and widened, their banks cast in stone and concrete. The natural course of the rivers were modified to allow for gentler curves to ensure rampaging waters do not crash onto embankments with devastating force, or back up on themselves and make the water rise.

Aside from making sure rampaging waters do not get impeded, making sure their exit to the sea is as quick as possible, there are also diversion canals just in case flood waters get particularly high for the normal flood channels to course and contain. And then there are the flood gates that can be shut or opened according to need.

In other words, while Ormoc City may be years behind Cebu City in economic standing, Cebu City also lags years behind Ormoc City in terms of modernity and practicality in confronting problems pertaining to flooding, something that can exact a terrible cost on all human activity.

Okay, so Ormoc did not spend for its flood control system but the Japanese did. That does not mean, however, the Cebu City, if it wanted to, cannot approximate the system at a much lower cost. Remember, Cebu City does not have to deal with floods as huge as that in Ormoc.

Cebu City does not have rivers as big as what they have in Leyte. Floods in Cebu City are not exactly like Leyte floods that are made up of rampaging waters from swollen rivers leading back up to vast interior areas. Cebu is a narrow strip of island, not big enough to spawn big rivers.

Floods in Cebu City are generally made up of rain and run-off water that can no longer be absorbed by the denuded and developed mountain sides. When these waters make their way to the sea, their natural paths get impeded by human settlements and clogged drainage, thus ensuring that waters will rise.

And they do. With nowhere to go, they well up in the lowlands, inundating large swaths of the city. This is what officials must start realizing in earnest. Floods are very destructive and distractive. A way must be found other than just going through the motions of dredging esteros and declogging canals.

This is a total waste of time, money and effort because it is no more than just a palliative. If Cebu City wants to be forward looking, it can either seek similar grants from foreign governments or it can foot the bill itself. What is important is that it is time to address the problem once and for all.