Mandaue City acquires more flooding response equipment

MANDAUE CITY, Cebu – The Mandaue City Government is acquiring additional flood-response equipment, including vacuum trucks, mobile suction trucks, and portable submersible pumps, to strengthen its flood response.

City Administrator Atty. Gonzalo Malig-on Jr. said two mobile sewage suction and jetting trucks are expected to be delivered within two weeks, while two vacuum trucks are expected to arrive within a month.

He said the equipment had already been ordered before the recent flooding and will help speed up the removal of floodwaters in affected areas.

Mandaue City flooding response equipment

Malig-on said Mayor Thadeo “Jonkie” Ouano also directed the acquisition of six to eight additional portable submersible pumps after inspecting Mayor A.S. Fortuna Memorial Elementary School in Barangay Guizo on Monday, Aug. 3, which was flooded following days of heavy rains.

He said the city had deployed one portable submersible pump to the school after the inspection.

Similar pumps will now be pre-positioned in flood-prone areas across Mandaue City so they can be immediately used during flooding instead of being transported from the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office.

Malig-on explained that vacuum trucks collect and store floodwater before transporting it to a proper disposal site, while mobile suction trucks pump floodwater directly into nearby rivers or the sea where drainage outlets are available.

The portable submersible pumps, meanwhile, can be stationed in schools and other flood-prone areas to allow for a quicker response during heavy rains.

Aside from acquiring additional equipment, Mandaue City has also requested the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to lend dredging equipment for the desilting of the Tipolo-Mantuyong Creek, which has been identified as one of the causes of flooding in Barangay Guizo.

Malig-on said purchasing long-arm dredging equipment would be too expensive for the city, making assistance from the DPWH a more practical option.

Aside from the immediate response, he said the city will continue engineering interventions, including desilting waterways, dredging creeks, and improving drainage systems in flood-prone areas.

“Ang objective ron sa city kana gud moingon ta nga wala nay baha. That’s wishful thinking. Kahibaw naman siguro ta ang drain sa Mandaue and sagad urban centers gi-agian og warehouse, gisirad-an og building. Mao na ang natural waterways usa sa naka-clogged-up with urbanization. Ang tubig gikan sa atop manaog sa dalan. Mao nay runoff. Dili man ta ka-prevent. Ang-ang bunggakon building diba. We just have to manage, [using] one of those kanang paspas ang drain,” Malig-on said.

(The city’s objective is where we can say there will be no longer flooding. That’s wishful thinking. I think we all know that the drainage in Mandaue City, like most urban centers, passes through warehouses, blocked buildings. That’s why natural waterways are clogged up with urbanization. The water overflowing from the roofs falls to the streets. That is the runoff. We can’t prevent that. Should we destroy buildings, no? We just have to manage by using equipment to speed up drainage.)

Immediate goal

Malig-on said the city’s immediate goal is to make floodwaters recede more quickly through improved flood management while long-term infrastructure projects continue.

He said reducing the duration of flooding would help minimize disruptions to motorists, workers, students, and residents.

“In the meantime, we are into flood management. Naay flooding dali nalang siya mosubside,” Malig-on added. (Should there be flooding, it would subside quickly.)

He added that the drainage improvement project along A.S. Fortuna Street in Barangay Banilad is about 97 percent complete, with the floodgate already opened. However, he said additional downstream works being undertaken by the DPWH must also be completed for the project to achieve its full effect.

Malig-on said the DPWH’s Tipolo drainage project is about 60 percent complete and remains one of the priority flood mitigation projects.

He noted that urban development and structures built along natural waterways over the years have contributed to recurring flooding, making both infrastructure improvements and flood management measures necessary.///

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