Problematizing the flood

Taft Avenue is flooded. It has been raining steadily since last night. My roommates and I haven't been anywhere, except to buy canned goods for lunch at the local Mercury Drug Store.



The fun part about having typhoons is that the air is cool. School and work get cancelled. My group was scheduled to work in a clinic in Tondo today, but that has been postponed until further notice. A major Agape activity was also cancelled. I've had an entire day to myself.

The sad part is that the power is cut off. And people suffer. So far, eight people have already died since Typhoon Pedring entered the Philippine area of responsibility.

Flooding is a reality people in Manila have come to live with. It floods quickly in these areas. Fifteen minutes of heavy downpour can already cause the water in the streets to rise, leading to traffic congestion and increasing the risk for acquiring Leptospirosis.

Once in a while I'd see MMDA people getting garbage off the canals, but days later they'll (the canals) be filled with so much garbage they're practically useless. But that hardly takes away the water away from the streets.

Which leads me to wonder: why has no long-term solution been done about the flooding problem? If we have one, it's certainly not working.