Building a flood-proof city

The 2009 Typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana) was one of the compelling reasons why I started envisioning building Clark Green City (now New Clark City). It was merely a tropical storm without much wind or gustiness. But its effects were catastrophic, as it drowned Metro Manila with a month’s volume of rainfall in just 24 hours. It was one of the worst, if not the worst, floodings of Metro Manila, with more than 460 people dead, many of whom were residents of Provident Village in Marikina, and causing economic losses of more than P23 billion, including the destruction of more than P10 billion worth of infrastructure and agriculture. In the aftermath of Ondoy, it was discovered that Provident Village should never have been developed as a residential community, as it was a natural hazard area, a flood basin of the Marikina River.

Deforestation of the uplands and the massive quarrying activities in the Sierra Madre caused the raging flashfloods, which caused the Marikina River and its tributaries to burst beyond the banks and into the highly dense communities beside them. The flimsy shanties of poor urban communities along the riverbanks were swept away by the floodwaters and slammed the structures against the bridges. Because people thought that Ondoy was not a strong typhoon, the government was caught unprepared by the massive floods that it caused. It was also discovered that government weather monitoring could have been more informed of the volume of rainfall if it had been provided with a Doppler radar.

Because of this, the late President Aquino III made it one of his priorities upon being elected in 2010 to acquire Doppler radars that would provide accurate weather data to our weather monitoring officials. However, in 2013, another unfamiliar climate change phenomenon would hit the country. Despite the preparedness of government agencies in disaster relief operations, they were no match to Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), the first category 5 super typhoon to make landfall in the country. This time, it was not the volume of rainfall but the intensity of wind gustiness that created devastating storm surges that swept away the entire Tacloban City and other towns along its destructive path.

Last Saturday, Quezon City experienced rainfall even much worse than Ondoy’s. In a short span of one hour, rainfall reaching 121 mm — compared to Ondoy’s peak of 90 mm — drenched the entire city. UP Diliman, which had never experienced flooding before, experienced the worst floods in its history. Fortunately, this downpour was localized. Hence, the damage was mitigated, and the administration of Mayor Belmonte was equipped with the technology and resources to immediately respond to the needs of QC constituents. Had the torrential downpour covered the entire Metro Manila again, the damage would have been unthinkable. Sadly, this is the new normal for climate change. We should expect more of these disasters to come our way.

The Aquino administration learned its lessons from Ondoy and Yolanda. It created the Climate Change Commission, empowered the Office of Civil Defense capabilities, invested in more advanced weather monitoring technologies, including Project NOAH, and the acquisition of more Doppler radars. Under the able leadership of the then public works secretary Babes Singson, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) drew up a flood control masterplan for the entire Metro Manila to address the impending floods.

Aware of the vulnerability of Metro Manila to climate change disasters and the possible Big One earthquake, I led the master planning and laying of the foundations of a new backup capital in Clark, which we launched on April 11, 2016, and which is now known as the New Clark City. One of the major features of this new metropolis is the preservation of natural waterways, such as rivers, creeks and streams. We required that these natural waterways never be blocked, nor their flows hindered.

Adopting the similar engineering technology that we built in Bonifacio Global City, we incorporated a 100-hectare manmade lake that would serve as the water detention pond where run-off water that causes floods will be detained prior to releasing it to the nearby streams. The rivers will have 100-meter open and green easements that will serve as green parks, esplanades, jogging paths and picnic areas. We envisioned rivers with natural anti-erosion infrastructures such as trees and other natural green softscapes. We wanted the rivers to be as clean to allow our children to experience swimming in them because the water in these rivers is coming from the natural springs of Mt. Pinatubo.

Our flood problems are not only caused by nature. Because nature, left alone, will simply seek its natural path. However, floods are caused by man’s stupidity and greed as well. We cannot stop nature on its track, but we can manage its course in a limited way. That is the role of science and engineering. Water is the source of every living thing on Earth. Yet it is also one of the most destructive, such that God would have to use the great flood to almost wipe out humanity.

With the raging controversy on the plunderous greed of public works officials and their cabal of contractors, we witness firsthand that science and engineering technologies can address the flooding problems that we have. What we could not stop, though, in so many years and so many ways, is the unquenchable avarice of a very few who made plunder of government funds an intergenerational family enterprise.

It’s about time that this flood of shameful plunder be met by the burning fire of people’s rage and retribution.

Source: Manila Times