27 killed as ‘habagat’ on 3rd week
The Philippine National Police on Monday reported at least 27 deaths across the country as rain brought by the southwest monsoon or “habagat,” continued on its third week, while the weather bureau said it is monitoring a low pressure area (LPA) east of northern Luzon.
Metro Manila did not count among the regions with high fatalities. But on Monday, more than 200 millimeters (mm) of rain poured over the metropolis in just five hours. This was about half the 455 mm dumped in 2009 by Tropical Storm “Ondoy” (international name: Ketsana)—one of the deadliest tropical cyclones in the country’s history, which left 464 dead.
Data shared by PNP public information chief Col. Allen Rae Co showed that in the Ilocos Region, a 35-year-old man in La Union and a 54-year-old man in Alaminos, Pangasinan, had died due to drowning.
In the Cordillera Administrative Region, at least five men were killed by landslides in Atok town and in the provincial capital of La Trinidad town in Benguet.
In Baguio City, there were 10 people reported killed by landslides—four men, one woman, two boys aged 12 and three girls aged 7, 8 and 12.
Dam update
In the Calabarzon region (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon provinces), a man died after he was reported swept away by river currents in Candelaria, Quezon, while a man was killed by a landslide, another man was electrocuted and another man drowned in Batangas.
In Rizal, a man drowned in Binangonan, another man in Antipolo City was killed by a tree that fell and a man and a woman were killed by landslides in separate incidents in Rodriguez.
A boy drowned in Caloocan City, Metro Manila, as did a police officer in Cadiz City, Negros Occidental.
In its update on Monday on the country’s water reservoirs, weather bureau Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said four dams that previously recorded lower water levels—Ambuklao and Binga Dam in Benguet, Ipo in Bulacan and La Mesa in Quezon City—were now near their spilling levels.
Metro rain volume
Bulacan’s Angat Dam, Pangasinan’s San Roque Dam, Nueva Ecija’s Pantabangan Dam, Isabela’s Magat Dam and Laguna’s Caliraya Dam also recorded higher water levels.
In Metro Manila, torrential rain triggered flooding in several areas, disrupting traffic on major roads and leaving thousands of commuters stranded, despite the government declaring class suspensions and alternative work arrangements in the bureaucracy in the capital region and in 12 Luzon provinces.
Citing data by Pagasa, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said the weather bureau recorded 201.7 mm of rain at its Science Garden station in Quezon City from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. One mm of rain is equivalent to a liter of water on every square meter of flat, open ground.
The MMDA said the volume amounted to 11 days of average rain in August. Normal average rainfall for that entire month, as recorded at Science Garden, stands at 568 mm.
The volume recorded on Monday was about half of Ondoy’s 455 mm dumped in 24 hours on Sept. 26, 2009.
Almost 200,000 homes were destroyed, and at least 529 people were left injured in the aftermath of that storm, which was marked by a steady, relentless rain instead of a supertyphoon’s impact of barreling into the country.
The MMDA said, however, that Monday’s rainfall was far below Ondoy’s record.
Pagasa’s data showed the downpour intensified by Monday noon, with Science Garden recording 138 mm between that time and 2 p.m. But the rain continued to pour heavily late into the afternoon.
The weather bureau said the monsoon rain is expected to persist over Luzon and parts of Visayas for at least the next five days.
Pagasa also reported the LPA now within the Philippine area of responsibility had a “low” chance of developing into a storm within the next 24 hours. —WITH REPORTS FROM KURT DELA PEÑA AND LUISA CABATO
******
Get real-time news updates: inqnews.net/inqviber
