Remember how I was already complaining about a mini-river / flood that occurred last July? Well… 
This was during habagat. It may not look much being only 6-inch high outside the house…
…but when the flood enters inside the house that’s a different story. 
My brother says the flood is so unmanageable because they open the damns whenever there’s heavy rain to keep the walls from collapsing. What he and I don’t understand is why do they wait until there’s heavy rain to open the damns? 
This is storm season and flooding is bad enough without the opening of those stupid damns! 
I’m still pissed off looking at these photos my brother took… But I should also remember to be thankful that the flood at our place was gone in two days since some places are still flooded until now…
But argh… all the stuff that needs to be replaced is not going to come cheap. 
They can't just open the dams. A level of water is required for 1.) Electricity generation, and 2.) Providing potable water for majority of southern and central Luzon.
ReplyDeleteFlooding also occurred because of improper / clogged drainage, lack of catch basins in the metro, overflowing rivers and canals, and the reckless building of massive high-rise buildings that displaces land, therefore causing an imbalance in the distribution of water in areas of risk.
But if that's the case, wouldn't it be better to make more dams then? Not trying to be difficult here, but it's just really annoying to have to deal with smelly waters entering the house and all. T_T;;;
DeleteI didn't know high-rise buildings were also a factor in flooding, though. I'll tell my brother~ xD
And I just realized I spelled my "dams" as "damns"~ xDDD So much anger!
ANGER! AND RAGE! Haha. Well, that's logical. But the problem is land and water area. Kulang na nga lupa natin para sa mga tao't mga sakahan sa Maynila, tapos magtatayo pa ng dam? San kukuha ng lupa?
DeleteA lot of developments tend to bulldoze land that is naturally dedicated to catch water flowing in from higher places. They also close up canals and esteros that naturally serve as places where water flows through when the water level rises. So in retrospect, the blame goes to development. The metro's pretty overdeveloped as it is, and that's just nature biting back the only way it knows how.
...my goodness, wince when did our world become so complicated anyway? @_@;;; And how are you so knowledgeable about this subject? xD That's pretty awesome!
DeleteThat reminds me of Hurricane Katrina here. Estuaries work like sponges in a storm, no spunges and the water has no where to go but in. New Orleans would have never flooded so badly if they didn't develop right on top of key estuaries. In fact biologist warned the state, county, city, and developers that flooding would happen if they did it and took the developers to court to stop it. The developers "won" since they said a bad enough storm would never happen and five years later Hurricane Katrina came.
DeleteEstuaries are that much more important in a tropical region where heavy storms are the norm. I know PH has a serious decline in mangroves and they're being torn down faster then they're being replanted (and replanting efforts often fail). It's also one of the reasons why your fish populations are declining. To put things in perspective, since the 50's you've lost something like 75% of the forests. The PH ranks as one of the top heavily devastated areas in the world for mangroves, in fact I think you've just surpassed Thailand so you might be THE top.
I feel so uneducated. xD;;; At least now I have something to debate with my brother. :3
Deleteall of us should study economics .. because the problem here is scarcity :)
DeleteBiology to me is what art is to you 8D And I find estuaries, particularly mangroves, really interesting. In fact I told my mom I'd like to do field work in the Philippines at some point in my life but I stopped bringing it up because she doesn't like the idea xD
DeleteBrother says what happened during Ondoy and Habagat pretty much happened in China. It flooded because the dams were all opened at the same time there was heavy rain. Now they survey the weather and open the dams before the rains hit...
DeleteSay they estimate a 20 meter downpour. Then they'll release 15 meters of waters from the damn the day before. Once the rain hits, all the dams are closed and villages are safe.
He says we also have the technology to do this in the Philippines, so why not do what China does?
This is all hearsay from my brother ok? I'm not as educated with this stuffs. xDDD
That could also work. Preventive. But the problem that still remains is: where will the water go? Say they release 15m of water. If the water doesn't escape from the land underneath the city, it'll stay there until it evaporates or naturally flows out into the sea. But if it rains 20 meters, not only will we have to worry about the water that's going to be released further from dams, but we'll also be dealing with the water that's already underground, which the rainwater will add to.
DeleteSo yes, preventive dam work will help, but the bottom line is that we need to provide somewhere for the water to go to, instead of down in the ground.
Straight to the ocean please. (。-ω-)☆ Or something...
DeleteIt'll be like a band aid, the root of the problem is still there.
DeleteLike I said, not knowledgeable with this stuff at all... where should it go then? (,,#ﾟДﾟ)
Delete:O that looks really bad~ How do you clean all that up? Do you have to repaint every time it happens?
ReplyDeleteIt depends... If the wood is still good, then a good disinfectant wipe is all it takes. Some of the doors have shriveled up, so those need to be repaired and painted. @_@;;;
Deletehaha D: I guess that's why my family decided to keep (& maintain) the old nipa style houses even after they re-built the new homes on the property. Though, maybe that has more to do w/ nostalgia since the property doesn't really flood. Although I'm still disappointed they didn't just do a new modern style bahay kubo :( I think they look more interesting then a box.
DeleteMy family in Manila though >_> my aunt was very grateful she had a hangout area on the roof & second floor lol
I like bahay kubo's but the only problem with those is that they're a magnet for roachies... that I will not stand for. Ever. xDDD
DeleteWaaah~~ I hope your aunt is ok. :c Clean up's gonna take a long time. T_T;;;
That's why modernize the design, so the house would still be like a couple feet off the ground and the aesthetics would be the same/similar but all the materials and code(?) would still be modern and err as insect proof as any other modern house? ... Now that I'm imagining it more, I really want to live in one xD all decked out, kekeke.
DeleteAunts house was like yours, flooded for a couple days then it drained out and they've been moving stuff between my Aunts place and my cousins before the flooding so there wasn't much stuff in the 1st floor; minimum damage.
Well if that's the case, that you'd have the coolest looking bahay kubo around. xD And one surrounded by modern estates would look very awesome~
DeleteGood for her, good for her! There's still a moldy scent in my house... I feel like I need to disinfect every nook and cranny before I'm satisfied! >.>;;; And yet my own room is a mess and gathering dust. xDDD
Seeee! That'd be an awesome house, right!? :D Like in my moms village, all the modern houses look the same and cookie cutter like, then you have the old style bahay kubo with style but with convince problems. So you take the modern convinces and combine it with the bahay kubo style and you'd have a traditional/modern and all around awesome home 8D
DeleteThough I like houses that go with the environment. xD a bahay kubo here in the Shouthwest would look... odd lol. I'd like an adobe home out here :D makes me sense energy wise too.
(*ノ・ω・) Well, I'm really big on designing what my home would look like. For me, as long as I have huge windows in my room, I'm an extremely happy bunny~ (Mainly because I tend to daydream a lot while drawing stuff and looking out the window helps me think~)
Deleteand natural sunshine saves on electricity costs :D lol I love windows too, so long as the scenery is nice lol
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