The provincial government of Bulacan headed by Bulacan Governor Daniel R. Fernando and Vice Governor Alexis C. Castro, together with the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) headed by Ret. Police Col. Manuel M. Lukban Jr., on Sunday night, July 30, continued monitoring areas in the province affected by the southwest monsoon rains enhanced by Typhoons Egay and Falcon.
Fernando reported that 15 municipalities and two cities in Bulacan are being affected by heaving flooding due to non-stop heavy rains since last week along with the release of excess waters from Ipo and Bustos Dams that has aggravated the flooding.
The Bulacan governor also reported that more or less 5,000 families and 17,000 individuals were affected and temporarily housed at the evacuation centers and trucks were already dispatched for free rides.
Fernando said he already instructed yhe Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSDWDO) to conduct relief operations for all flood victims in the province.
Likewise, Fernando also directed the Damayang Filipino Movement (DFM) to distribute relief goods at all evacuation centers in Bulacan.
The governor also ordered the Provincial Agriculture's Office, PSDWDO, and PDRRMO to carefully complete all data on damages and the needs of people, particularly on agriculture, livelihood, and infrastructure for the proposed declaration of State of Calamity.
Meanwhile, in an interview with DZRH on Sunday, Fernando said he will attend on Monday, July 31, the calls in Congress regarding house bills solutions for flooding which is his best opportunity to speak about the flooding problem.
He said floods in Bulacan take longer due to back floods from Nueva Ecija and Pampanga as well as waters from the mountains and from the City of San Jose Del Monte.
The city is also now closely monitoring the water elevation at the Candaba swamp at Pampanga River and the release of water from the Ipo and Bustos Dams that is gradually releasing 200 to 300 cubic meters of water per second,
The governor said he felt dismayed when they learned that Bustos Dam all of a sudden released 700 cm of water per second which made the flooding situation in Bulacan worse.
He immediately called the dam's operator to lessen the release of water because the 15 municipalities and two cities in Bulacan are still submerged under two to five feet floods.
Fernando also mentioned they already asked for the support of Ramon S. Ang, President and CEO of San Miguel Corporation to look at the long or permanent solution flooding problem in Bulacan, because he noticed that today's flooding is worse than Typhoon Ondoy in the year 2009.