Environmentalists Luis Carvajal and Domingo Abreu blame the flooding of the rivers in part on the extraction of gravel for construction projects.
Carvajal said the flooding will continue because the river basins are deteriorated and any drop of water turns these rivers and streams into an open faucet for flood waters. Furthermore, he said barrios have been built on vulnerable areas in the flood plains of rivers and streams.
Carvajal, environmental coordinator for the state UASD university, said the country needs a land use plan. This would establish the logistics for managing the present infrastructure and mitigate disasters in each area.
He said if the country is to receive 600 mm of water, there will be serious flooding. “The susceptibility to flooding is acute in our society because most communities are not prepared for these types of natural disasters,” he stated.
Abreu says that the constant flooding affecting communities is also due to the sewage systems not receiving maintenance to maintain proper drainage and cities streets are overwhelmed with uncollected garbage that clogs up the sewers. He said the flooding is normal due to the amount of rains that have fallen, worsened by the passing of Hurricane Maria when already the land was saturated from Irma. He stressed that the elimination of vegetation in riparian zones is primarily due the massive extraction of aggregates for construction projects.
Carvajal said much of the flooding has affected houses in areas of flood plains of rivers, including areas in Haina, San Francisco de Macorís and La Vega. He said there is need for more citizen education so people can organize and be prepared for hurricanes and tropical storms.
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Hoy
25 September 2017
