CALAPAN CITY – Flooding brought by torrential rains greeted the first month of 2023 in Oriental Mindoro displacing several families and destroyed flood-mitigating infrastructure resulting to damage in agriculture and impassable roads.
The Provincial Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Office (PDRRMO) reported that the recent flooding due to torrential rains at the start of 2023 has now hit P47.46 million.
Vincent Gahol, PDRRMO chief said, agriculture losses were estimated to have reached P46,378,911.38 while damage was at P1,114,900.00. These are mostly rice, corn, and vegetable fields that are situated in low-lying areas in the city of Calapan, and the towns of Victoria, Naujan, Socorro and Pola.
Gahol added that the total number of displaced families was 282 or 1,367 individuals and ten families or 40 individuals are still in an evacuation center. A total of four houses in Naujan town were also totally damaged.
Meanwhile, Maintenance Division Chief of the Provincial Engineering Office Engr. Pontiano Cueto Jr. said that the flood mitigation projects of the provincial government in the towns of Baco, Naujan, Victoria, Socorro, and this city were all damaged.
“I cannot give the exact figure right now as we are still collating the information but we are sure that it could run into millions of pesos. Our gabion armoring, protection dikes and river dikes were badly damaged because of the strong current of the floods,” Cueto said.
The First District Engineering Office of the Department of Public Works and Highways said that the repair and maintenance of Alag River in Alag in the town of Baco worth P5 million and the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Melgar A and B seawall in Naujan town worth P150M collapsed due to the flooding.
Torrential rains right after the New Year inundated low-lying areas in the first district of the province including all the villages in Baco town. The rains lasted up to Jan. 8, 2023, but during the afternoon, moderate showers are still experienced by residents, particularly in the Mt. Halcon range. (Giovanni A. Flaviano)
