2 Ifugao barangays brace for flash floods

TINOC, Ifugao – Hundreds of families in two adjoining villages here are bracing for possible flash floods as a result of severe landslides in this remote mountain area.

Ifugao officials identified the affected communities as Barangays Eheb and Tukuccan in this isolated town.

Eheb, which lies at the foothills of Mt. Pulag’s eastern part, is where a presidential helicopter crashed last April, claiming the lives of all the eight Palace officials and aircraft crew.

Government geologists have been in the area to evaluate the situation amid threats of flash floods from a dam with two to three million cubic meters of water that was formed by a 300-meter high landslide that clogged a nearby creek.

Meanwhile, Ifugao Gov. Teddy Baguilat, whose province is still reeling from the devastation of typhoon “Emong,” called for an emergency meeting of the provincial disaster coordinating council the other day to discuss contingency measures in case flash floods occur in the area.

He said experts from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau have gone to the area to assess the situation.

Baguilat said a breach in the natural dam has somewhat depleted the volume of water, adding though that the possibility of a worst landslide is imminent, too.

“The mountains have been severely denuded and even bigger volumes of water could be contained by bigger landslides, further endangering more widespread areas,” he said.

Miners from Philex Mining Corp. were asked to help bore holes through the rocks to slowly drain the water without harming the villages.

Authorities have also sought the help of SN Aboitiz Power, which owns the power-generation facility in Ramon, Isabela.

Relief efforts are also being readied for the threatened residents.

Emong left at least 16 fatalities and nearly P200 million in crop losses and infrastructure damage in Ifugao, now still under a state of calamity. -- CL