‘…flooding in the NCR has never been solved, with new areas now flooding up themselves. I guess it’s because we have messed up urban planning through the years…’
TWO days ago, the heavens opened up all over Metro Manila.
It first opened up over BGC at about 1 p.m., pouring down more water than can be found in the Dead Sea. Then at around 3 p.m., it stopped.
My younger brother who was in Intramuros at that time told me that it wasn’t raining there but there were thunderstorms all around. I said to myself, “Oh that’s good if the downpour was limited to BGC.”
But at around 6:30 p.m., while I was dining at Serendra’s Abe restaurant, it began pouring again like there was no tomorrow. Pouring and pouring and pouring. It was pouring so hard that soon the waiters of the restaurant were at the door in full force, using dustbins to scoop up water that was pouring into the restaurant itself! Seems Serendra’s drainage system itself wasn’t designed well.
But that drainage system was the least of our worries, as I found out later on. Because this time the downpour wasn’t limited to BGC, but covered the whole of the Metro. And because people decided to ride out the heavy downpour by staying in their offices or in the malls late, by the time everyone decided to head home at around 10 p.m. (myself included!) nothing was moving in Metro Manila. Many streets were flooded; traffic lights were being ignored, and everything had basically come to a standstill.
A friend’s son on his way to the airport was caught by a massive jam on C5; his mother had to hail an Angkas, which took the son and his luggage to NAIA 3. How many other passengers like him missed their flights as a result? How many aircrews arrived late?
Metro Manila, as I’ve known it over the last six decades of my life, has always been this way; the flooding is our version of a heavy snowstorm that brings cities in the northern hemisphere to their knees. But despite numerous flood control projects costing hundreds of billions over the years, the flooding in the NCR has never been solved, with new areas now flooding up themselves. I guess it’s because we have messed up urban planning through the years, and now a heavy downpour lasting two to three hours is enough to let us feel nature’s (if not God’s) wrath.
Wait till the next big super typhoon comes. If we are lucky all that we will suffer from is an NCR-wide standstill like what happened Wednesday night.
If we are lucky.
