Learning from 'Ondoy,' Robredo orders declogging ops in NCR

Secretary Jesse Robredo was not yet the head of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) when Tropical Storm Ondoy pummeled parts of Luzon, including Metro Manila, in September 2009. But just the same, Robredo, who came to office in mid-2010 with the assumption of President Benigno Aquino III, picked up a few lessons from those fateful days as he ordered the declogging of drainages in frequently flooded villages in Metro Manila on Thursday. For these operations, Robredo put to task the Bureau of Fire Protection, an attached agency of the DILG, to coordinate with mayors and village officials in the National Capital Region in identifying "priority areas" for declogging. "We should all learn our lessons from Ondoy that hit Metro Manila and other nearby provinces in September 2009," Robredo said, referring to the killer storm that left hundreds dead and millions of pesos in damage to property. "The waste-clogged esteros and other waterways in the region [were] one of the main reasons why heavy rains failed to subside fast, causing flash floods," he added. He appealed to Metro Manila residents not to indiscriminately throw plastics and other solid wastes in their communities. He also said the government has already received several reports of flash floods hitting communities in Metro Manila in the last few days. Dodong Robredo said BFP personnel would already be mobilized to declog drainage pipes, esteros, creeks, and other waterways. The BFP was also instructed to coordinate with the Metro Manila Development Authority and local government units in the region to deploy dump trucks that would pick up and transport the retrieved trash and silt. "Aside from helping prevent floods and make NCR barangays clean, especially with the onslaught of the rainy season, the declogging will also stamp out stagnant waters where disease-carrying mosquitoes thrive and curtail the spread of other water-borne diseases," Robredo said. Earlier in the day, classes from preschool to high school levels were suspended in Metro Manila and nearby areas after hours of continuous rains, according to the Department of Education after consulting with state weather forecasters. Shortly before noon Thursday, the low-pressure area intensified into Tropical Depression Dodong, prompting the state weather bureau to place Metro Manila and six other areas under Storm Signal No. 1. [See: Metro Manila, 6 other areas now under Storm Signal No. 1] Ondoy On Sept. 26, 2009, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services said the rainfall brought by Ondoy to Metro Manila and nearby areas in a span of six hours was the most in recorded history, surpassing the previous record for the metropolis in 1967. PAGASA said the total rainfall from Ondoy in the first six hours of the storm, which measured 341 millimeters, broke the record for the highest 24-hour rainfall of 334 millimeters in metropolitan Manila recorded in June 1967. — RSJ/KBK, GMA News