RAINWATER brought by a thunderstorm on Saturday afternoon was worse than what tropical storm “Ondoy” brought in 2009, the Quezon City government said yesterday.
The heavy downpour flooded 96 areas in 36 of the 142 barangays of the city, displacing over 800 families, said Maria Bianca Perez, chief of the city’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (DRRMO).
“The problem that we experienced yesterday (Saturday) was actually the high volume of rainwater. Our drainage system cannot handle that huge volume,” she said in an interview with radio dzMM.
Perez said the city’s drainage system can only handle a “normal” volume of rainwater.
Citing information from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), Perez said in the volume of rainwater brought by the thunderstorm was 141 millimeters per hour, which she said is “not normal.”
“That is more than what Ondoy brought which is 90 millimeters per hour, that was its (Ondoy) peak intensity,” she said.
Ondoy affected nearly five million individuals in Metro Manila and several other regions and left 464 people dead and dozens missing, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).
Ondoy, one of the worst tropical cyclones to hit Metro Manila, left some P10.9 billion in damage to infrastructure and agriculture, the NDRRMC also said.
Perez said while other local government units, including Rizal, also experienced rains on Saturday afternoon, the downpour was concentrated in Quezon City.
She also said the floods displaced 816 families (2,608 individuals) who were staying at 15 evacuation centers as of 6 a.m. yesterday.
Perez said the residents were told to proceed to evacuation centers at the height of the downpour and flooding for their safety.
“As of now, we have already asked them to return home. We’re expecting this numbers to go down,” said De Leon.
In a statement on Saturday night, the Quezon City government acknowledged that the drainage system of the city “could not handle the huge amount of rainwater in such a short time, resulting in severe flooding, even in some areas that are not usually flooded.”
Citing preliminary analysis by the University of the Philippines-Resilience Institute and UP Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards, the city government described the rainfall as “phenomenal” or “extraordinary.”
“The intensity of the rain earlier today in Quezon City (was) much higher than the highest rainfall in one hour during tropical storm Ondoy,” the city government said.
It said the flooding later subsided, attributing this to relentless unclogging operations by the city’s Department of Engineering.
It also said personnel from the Department of Sanitation and Cleanup Works were also deployed to belongings which were swept away and later blocked waterways.
“The local government will continue to push for the full implementation of the contents of the DMP (Drainage Master Plan) as a long-term and effective solution to flooding in the city, instead of flood control projects that have not gone through the local government’s analysis and study,” it added.
3-4 CYCLONES
PAGASA weather specialist Charmagne Marie Varilla said the country may experience three to four tropical cyclones this month.
Varilla said the chances of tropical cyclones in the “ber” months making landfall are higher compared to those in January to August.
The country experiences an average of 20 tropical cyclones a year. “Jacinto” was the country’s last tropical cyclone, the 10th for the year and fifth for August.
One of the low pressure areas (LPAs) inside the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) dissipated yesterday, PAGASA said.
In an advisory, PAGASA said the LPA, which was last monitored some 90 km east northeast of Daet, Camarines Sur at 3 a.m. yesterday, dissipated at 8 a.m.
The active LPA was some 675 km east of Borongan City, Eastern Samar as of 3 p.m. yesterday, according to PAGASA.
In a social media post, PAGASA said the LPA, as of 2 p.m. yesterday, “has a low chance of development into a tropical depression within the next 24 hours.”
PAGASA weather specialist Obet Badrina said the LPA is forecast to dissipate in the coming days.
In a 24-hour public weather forecast, PAGASA said the LPA will bring cloudy skies with scattered rains and thunderstorms to Bicol region, Eastern Visayas, Aurora, Nueva Ecija, Bulacan, Quezon, and Rizal.
Metro Manila, Mimaropa, Zamboanga Peninsula, Camiguin, Surigao del Norte, Dinagat Islands, the rest of the Visayas, and the rest of the Central Luzon and Calabarzon regions will experience cloudy skies with scattered rains and thunderstorms due to the southwest monsoon.
The rest of Northern Mindanao and Caraga regions will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rain showers or thunderstorms also due to the southwest monsoon.
The rest of the country will experience the same condition due to localized thunderstorms.
LEPTOSPIROSIS
The Department of Health (DOH) advised the public to seek medical attention to avoid leptospirosis.
“The DOH reminds all citizens who have waded in floodwaters during the recent heavy rains to avoid leptospirosis by consulting the nearest health center or hospital, where you can be prescribed doxycycline, if needed,” Health Assistant Secretary Albert Domingo said in a statement.
“Remember that even if you have no symptoms or wounds, there is a need to make sure if the medicine is needed or not,” he added.
Domingo said even pregnant women and children need to consult.
“Pregnant women and children are not usually given doxycycline but there are alternative antibiotics that can be used as prophylaxis,” he said.
Leptospirosis is a disease caused by bacteria that is spread through the urine of infected animals, that gets mixed in flood water.
Based on DOH data, 4,436 leptospirosis cases have been recorded from June 8 to August 21.
Meanwhile, food and non-food relief items worth about P5.2 million have been distributed to the more than 26,099 families or 119,689 persons from 186 barangays in 11 regions nationwide affected by Jacinto and an LPA last week.
Data from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) showed that 5,341 families (24,102 persons) were displaced composed of 686 families (2,232 persons) who are staying in 18 evacuation centers, and 4,655 families (21,870 persons) who are temporarily staying with relatives or friends. – With Gerard Naval and Jocelyn Montemayor
