BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Victorias City in Negros Occidental has been also placed under a state of calamity, after this was approved yesterday during the session of its Sangguniang Panlungsod, as recommended by Mayor Francis Frederick Palanca.
This was after Talisay City was also placed under a state of calamity Wednesday, as approved by its SP and City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.
The flashfloods on Jan. 1 in 19 barangays of Victorias City claimed the life of a resident, with 9,028 families affected, 46 houses destroyed, and 183 others damaged.
Damage to crops and fisheries was placed at P4.3 million.
By declaring a state of calamity, Palanca said they may now use the city’s 2021 calamity funds to help the affected residents, and to address the flooding problem.
Relief goods kept pouring in for affected residents, especially those residing in Brgy. 19-A in Victorias City, where 1,850 families were hit by flooding, barangay chairwoman Lucia Duran said yesterday.
Duran, who led the distribution of relief goods from Senator Francis Pangilinan, on top of assistance from Rep. Francisco Benitez, city and provincial governments, and the private sector, said that her constituents were traumatized by the recent flashfloods, with water as deep as six feet, and even higher in some areas, especially those living near the creek.
They cannot sleep when there is heavy rain as there might be another flashflood, Duran also said.
The dredging of the Carugiat creek in Victorias City is slated to start today, after an amphibious excavator of the Department of Public Works and Highways arrived from San Enrique, as requested by Benitez and Palanca earlier.
Also affected by the flashfloods were thousands of families in Silay City and EB Magalona. Damage to crops and fisheries rose to P20 million, including those in the cities of Cadiz and Sagay, aside from EB Magalona, Silay, Talisay, and Victorias, with 83 barangays and 3,070 farmers affected, the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist said.*
