No Water, No Rice

Typhoon Milenyo (international codename Typhoon Xangsane) which hit Laguna and surrounding provinces last September 29, 2006 is now history with all major damages fixed, electricity restored and uprooted trees and billboards removed but the effects of the strongest typhoon to hit the area since Typhoon Rosing are still being felt in Pila, Laguna.

The Calumpang River Dam which supplies water for Pila’s rice fields still has to be repaired and according to unconfirmed reports, it will take 1 to 2 years before the National Irrigation Administration complete the installation of a new dam which means no rice for 2 to 4 crop cycles. The dam was damaged at the height of typhoon Milenyo’s fury.

Lanzones production which peaked this year after more than ten years of poor production brought about by the ash fall of the Mt. Pinatubo eruption and Typhoon Rosing in 1995 will again go down. Coconut farms also took a beating. As a consequence, copra output will remain low within the next two years.

Yesterday, travel to Pila was affected by the mudflows in Calamba. Mudflows and floods continue to disrupt highway traffic in Calamba since Typhoon Milenyo ravaged the resort capital. Heavy shower causes mudflow from Mount Makiling to Pansol and Bucal in Calamba.

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