It was Friday and everyone was excited to go home. But, unfortunately, it was not an easy journey for most motorists and commuters passing through the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) last August 4.
Those from the north were stuck from Mexico Interchange to the Tulaoc Bridge area in San Simon town for approximately four to six hours. While those from Metro Manila had to face the traffic ordeal from Petron Plaridel up to Tulaoc Bridge.
The reason: 35 to 50 cm of floodwaters made the outermost lane on both north and southbound not passable for light vehicles.
To address the situation, the NLEx management started sandbagging both sides of the road and deployed water pumps and trucks to drain the water to no avail. According to NLEx, they are looking at the possible blockage of waterways within San Simon and nearby areas as the cause of the flooding.
As of this writing, traffic build-up has eased up a bit and floodwaters at Tulaoc started to subside.
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Featured photo by Jiro Garbes.
