By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The Provincial Disaster Management Program Division (PDMPD) of Negros Occidental will forward a recommendation to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to dredge the province’s major rivers as a solution to the annual flash floods besetting local government units especially in the third district.

PDMPD head, Dr. Zephard Gerhart Caelian, said he has seen how heavily silted the creeks and tributaries in the province are.

Caelian said the areas that need dredging are the rivers of Malogo, Bago, Ilog- Hilabangan and Himogaan.

“There is a need to conduct the clearing of waterways to prevent flooding. A hydrologic study is also needed to find out the state of our waterways,” he added.

He also said there is a need to install rain gauges upstream of these river systems to give early warning to LGUs downstream water rises from the mountain areas.

Caelian said he will talk with DPWH-6 regional director Lea Delfinado who will be in Negros on Friday on a possible dredging project in the areas concerned.

He added that Edgardo Rostato, provincial environment and natural resources officer, called him to ask for details of the flooding.

“I will coordinate with him to look into the angle that quarries located along the rivers may have contributed to the flooding on New Year’s Day,” he said.

The New Year’s Day flooding affected a total of 13,772 families in 42 barangays of the four local government units in the third district./DGB, WDJ