Metro Manila, Philippines – The Quezon City government said it recorded “phenomenal” rainfall in a short amount of time on Saturday, Aug. 30, overwhelming drainages that caused severe flooding in parts of the city.
In a statement on Saturday evening, the city government said 36 out of 142 barangays were affected by flood.
At least two roads, Tabing Ilog St. Kaingin Bukid in Barangay Apolonio Samson and Daang Tubo in Barangay UP Campus, were recorded to have head-deep floods on Saturday.
The local government unit (LGU) said rains were largely dumped in Quezon City and Nangka, Marikina, citing the preliminary analysis of University of the Philippines Resilience Institute and the UP NOAH Center, rain gauges and weather stations of state weather bureau PAGASA in Metro Manila, and the city’s weather app IRISEUP.
It added it logged 121 millimeters of rainfall within one hour, higher than the around 90 mm per hour during the devastating Typhoon Ondoy in 2009.
As full details came in at PAGASA, Quezon City recorded up to 141 millimeters of rainfall on Saturday afternoon, peaking from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Mahar Lagmay, disaster scientist and executive director of Project NOAH, said it was “extreme” rainfall, which was classified as greater than 60 mm per hour.
“Hindi kinaya ng drainage system ng lungsod ang napakaraming tubig-ulan sa napakaikling oras kaya nagresulta ito ng malalang pagbaha, maging sa ilang lugar na hindi karaniwang binabaha,” the QC LGU said.
[Translation: The city’s drainage system was overwhelmed by the huge amount of rainfall in a short amount of time, resulting in severe flooding, even in areas that do not usually experience flooding.]
It said it is addressing the drainage system issues through its drainage master plan.
It also said declogging operations throughout the year helped for the flood to quickly subside.
“Patuloy na isusulong ng lokal na pamahalaan na ganap na maipatupad ang nilalaman ng DMP bilang pangmatagalan at epektibong solusyon sa pagbaha sa lungsod, sa halip na flood control projects na hindi dumaan sa pagsusuri at pag-aaral ng lokal na pamahalaan.” the LGU said.
[Translation: The local government will continue to push for the full implementation of the DMP 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.]
