Why do couples continue to marry in flooded churches

It was a scene you would expect to see at any wedding.

Jamaica Aguilar walked down the path, squeezing his father’s hand, dressed in a white dress and a veil with a cathedral, worthy of the Baroque church in which it was.

With the fact that she, like all her guests, were almost kneeling in the water: the church was completely flooded due to heavy rains brought both by the seasonal monsoon and by typhoon.

But the couple did not allow it to stop them – saying it was “a challenge, but we focused on what is important.”

The scenes from the Barasin Church north of the Philippine capital Manila soon passed viral on social media and made the circles as another example of Philippine resilience to the disaster.

But it is amazing that this was not the first time something similar happened. Two years ago, another Philippine couple walked along the flooded path of the same church, at the same time of the year. And in 2018, a couple tied the knot to a flooded church in Bulacan province, right north of Manila.

Immersed weddings are not just a tale of determination -they are the most example example of a purulent flood problem that continues to carry a misery of millions, a problem sharpened by the collapsing sewage systems, the poor urban planning and the extreme meteorological events that grow more intensity.

For the 27-year-old bride, the most difficult part of the wedding was the night before, when she decided to continue or with the ceremony.

Planning weddings had warned them that the rains would get worse.

“It was the most critical time for us – should we cancel it and defer it? It was 50/50 for me – I was considering canceling,” she told the BBC.

But in the end, they decided to press.

“It was challenging, but we focused on what is really important-our relationships and the people who love us,” said 27-year-old groom Jade Rick Verdille, adding that they were both “delighted” after the ceremony.

One of the first things they did as a husband and wife was to take the doxycycline pills from the local health center.

It is an antibiotic for preventing flood diseases such as leptospirosis that attacks the liver.

And just hours after the wedding, the still flooded Barasoain church hosted a funeral where a white ark was placed on the cocilli at the foot of the altar.

Typhoon Vifa, known at the local level as CRISING, is the third storm that the Philippines has seen this year.

The Philippines are one of the most vulnerable countries in the world of tropical cyclones due to its location in the Pacific, where similar meteorological systems are formed.

About 20 tropical cyclones are formed in this region every year, half of which influence the country directly.

Six people are reported to have been killed since the rains on last weekend, while tens of thousands are displaced.

And it seems that there is no recreation from the turbulent weather, as two more cyclones are planned to develop or enter the Philippines later this month. Historically, the most powerful and deadly storms hit the end of the year, just before Christmas.

The pole comes days before the annual congress of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. in the congress next Monday, which will be carefully monitored for his plans to deal with the perennial flood.

During the height of the torrential rains earlier this week, Marcos ended the preparation for his speech after photos of state staff, who puts his portraits on Manila lamps, diverged and rammed with anger online.

Critics said government resources should be focused on the disaster response rather than preparing for a political performance.

Marcos, who is in Washington to negotiate a trade deal with US President Donald Trump, said he guaranteed the readiness of disaster response agencies before leaving the country.

Much of the floods are concentrated in Metro Manila, which is home to more than 13 million people.

It is one of the most densely populated mega cities in the world and its disposal of garbage is a major challenge. Unsecured and improperly discarded waste contaminates the waterways and clogs the drainage systems of sources.

The floods are caused by the “very old” and “inadequate” sewage of Metro Manila, according to Manuel Bonoan, Minister of Public Affairs of Marcos. Dates from the early 1900s.

The system is also 70% enhanced or clogged after over a century of use, Mr Bonoan told News Outlet Abs-CBN News.

Dr. Mahar Lagmai, a geologist at the University of Philippines and a disaster response expert, said the floods were partly caused by roads built along natural waterways.

The solution to the flooding problem should take into account several factors, including the tides of the Manila Bay, the potential storm and the possible failure of the dams nearby, said Dr. Lagmai in a more opinion.

But the Bonoan says that a flooding plan is collected with the help of the World Bank, adding that Manila has allocated billions of peso to the problem.

One immediate solution involves repairing 32 pumping stations in the capital to reduce the tension of the drainage system, he said.

“We have to sit once and for all, at the most possible time to find a solution,” he said.

Recently, the glued Verdilo thinks this is a problem that can one day be solved, so couples no longer have to go through the waters to get to the altar.

“We have seas and rivers here in the Philippines, so we have so much water. The government has to invest in flood gates, pumping stations and wider channels,” he said.

“Improvements cannot be made in a day, but they can be done for years … I am positive about it as long as we all focus on mitigating.”