A history of devastating tropical cyclones prompted the construction of flood-mitigation infrastructure in the Philippine city of Cagayan de Oro over the past decade. However, experts say the infrastructure alone won’t be sufficient to address the flood risks amid increasingly frequent and stronger storms due to climate change. Residents also highlight the loss of native vegetation, particularly swaths of mangrove forest, to make way for flood walls and dikes, which experts say exacerbates flood risk. Experts say there’s a need to restore the wider watershed area of the Cagayan de Oro River, otherwise the infrastructure built at massive cost “might get washed away” in the next major storm. CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines — Saturnino Zambrano once ran a flourishing backyard farm on the banks of the Cagayan de Oro River on Mindanao Island in the southern Philippines. On Dec. 17, 2011, his life’s work vanished in a single night. Tropical Storm Washi, known locally as Sendong, unleashed heavy rainfall on the island, swelling the river and causing massive flash floods and landslides that cut a wide swath of devastation in the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan. While their grown children managed to evacuate ahead of landfall, Zambrano and his wife stayed behind at home and survived by clinging to the top of a tree. “I couldn’t leave because I had so many animals; I wanted to rescue them, but there was no time,” says Zambrano, now 78, tearing up as he speaks. “The water was already too…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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