Flood sensors to be installed in Cagayan de Oro River, other major rivers

The government is set to install water level sensors and rain gauges in major river systems in the country this year as part of the national flood forecasting, monitoring and mitigation program spearheaded by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). 

 

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is set to allocate P150 million to fund more than 1,000 water level sensors to be installed in several river basins to improve the government’s weather forecasting and hazard mitigating capability. 

 

Since the 1980’s, only four rivers had been installed with sensors to measure rainfall and water rise.

 

“The President has given instructions and allotted resources to fast-track our river monitoring system nationwide to aide in forecasting potential floods,” says DOST Secretary Mario G. Montejo. 

 

Comprehensive system

 

The improved flood warning system will include integrating data from Doppler radars, satellites, automated weather systems and rain gauges through the numerical Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) prediction system. The use of 3D mapping will forecast flood patterns and determine the expected impact of floods on communities near rivers and dams. 

 

The installment of the sensors is part of the DOST’s drive to use science and technology to solve pressing national problems, in this case disaster mitigation and management.

 

Cagayan de Oro

 

One of the rivers to be given priority installation of these sensors is the Cagayan de Oro River, which flooded its banks during the onslaught of typhoon Sendong, which resulted in the deaths of over a thousand people. 

 

The collapse of the river’s upstream dams upstream is believed to have caused much of the devastation. The release of such a large volume of water triggered the flash flood that hit nearby communities. 

 

“At some point, the dams may have collapsed when the trapped water filled with debris overtopped the dams,” says Montejo. 

 

The Department of Public Works and Highways has recently committed to fund the dams’ repair and the construction of dikes. — TJD, GMA News