5 days ago
Irrigation gate left open blamed for flashfloods in Umingan
Belen Dano is one of the unfortunate residents who were not able to save anything in their house due to the flash flood. Their car and motorcycles submerged into the waters, and their puppies drowned.
Authorities in Umingan, Pangasinan, blamed an irrigation gate left open for the flash floods in the town as Tropical Storm Crising brought rains over Luzon.
According to the report of GMA Regional TV's Jasmin Gabriel-Galban in '24 Oras' on Friday, motorists had a hard time traversing the roads due to flood waters.
For instance, two motorcycle riders tried to cross, but they fell because of the flood. Residents and rescue personnel joined hands to save the two riders using a rope.
The flood waters entered houses in the municipality. Nearly 300 houses in five barangays were affected by the flash flood, the report said.
Belen Dano is one of the unfortunate residents who were not able to save anything in their house due to the flash flood. Their car and motorcycles submerged into the waters, and their puppies drowned.
'Nandiyan na yung tubig, wala na, wala ka nang magawa kasi nandiyan na,' she said.
(The water has already entered, and we cannot do anything about it then.)
Aside from the open irrigation gate, the municipal authorities also found that the gate of the river system was not immediately opened.
This caused the water that was supposed to flow to the river to go to the irrigation canals.
'Since medyo nagkapondo na po ng tubig doon sa ating river, malakas na po yung buhos nun, and then yung nga po nakasara doon sa main gate natin, so lahat ng flow ng tubig ay going sa Masiil-Siil irrigation canals,' said Kennedy Sonaco, research and planning officer of Umingan MDRRMO.
(Since the water in the river was already full and the main gate was closed, all the water went straight to the irrigation canals in Masiil-Siil.)
Further investigation showed that the barangay officials of Masiil-Siil are responsible for opening and closing the gates of the irrigation canal.
The barangay officials said that they did not anticipate the high volume of rainwater; hence, they were not able to immediately open the main gate, according to the report.
Other than the barangays in Umingan, the barangays in the town of Balungao also experienced knee-deep flash floods. –Vince Angelo Ferreras/GMA Integrated News
