Every year we experience monsoon rains. Every year we do the same things. It seems we never learn our lessons. Why does it take effort to make our countrymen understand that monsoon rains are part of our geographical location and we have no chance of escaping it? As of this writing, 60 are dead, thousands of families have been relocated, hundreds of homes inundated in low-lying areas. Ninety percent of Manila was/is under water.
Either we've succeeded in destroying our environment or we just really have to make better use of our waterways. In any case, it's not just pollution that's the culprit, I guess. There's the matter of siltation, garbage disposal, overflowing dams and just uber precipitation. Some areas which aren't along water ways have surprisingly and increasingly become flooded over the years. Araneta Avenue and parts of Quezon City which are hilly areas now become flooded as well.
As it turns out, there is no typhoon... no tropical depression... just rains brought about westerly winds and rain clouds pulled by another weather system that's about to hit China (typhoon Haikui). So since there is no typhoon PAGASA didn't need to air a typhoon signal. However, to their credit, they have issued warnings as to how much rain and what to expect from the monsoon rains looming over the big island of Luzon.
President Aquino had already requested our weather bureau to make the weather forecasts more understandable in layman's terms so the ordinary Juan can understand it better. However, making the forecasts more vivid won't make a difference when the informal settlers refuse to leave their meager belongings behind as they wait for flood waters to subside. Better for some to wade in filthy water than lose whatever they have bought with hard earned savings.
Oh well, wait out the storm which as all indicators point out will last till November. But what does it really mean to heed the storm warnings? PAGASA always indicates the amount of rainfall and the percentage re. chance of rain. When they say 15 to 20 mm of rain, the assumption is that the amount of rain is measured over a flat surface over an hour. So an area measuring 10 meters is multiplied by the number of expected rainfall.You figure it out...To have a picture of what it means, one balikbayan box is one cubic meter. That should be able to fill a pool over an hour. So since water has the innate tendency to flow, the low lying areas get inundated immediately.
Color coding also should be easy to understand. Yellow means monitoring. This means 10 - 20 meters of rainfall should not pose any threat to property or people. But over a sustained period of time it may turn to green . Green means Alert. That means flood waters are rising. 20 -30 meters of rain can cause flooding in the area. When the Red Code is sounded off... it means evacuate!!! MOVE people!!!! Being stubborn won't help. Your safety should be topmost priority.
Bells are sounded off from churches and barangay captains are on the prowl to ask people to seek higher ground. It occurs every year so it's no small wonder why people really should just leave for safer places to stay... I know our bayanihan habit speaks highly for our own reputation... but doing this year in and year out can take its toll especially when rescuing stranded people who refuse to budge all the time. Complicate this with rising flood waters and the threat of disease due to our wanton disposal of garbage and the problems are magnified.
We just have to all do our part if want to get rid of this perennial problem. And now... for the clean up... eeewwww!
Oh well, wait out the storm which as all indicators point out will last till November. But what does it really mean to heed the storm warnings? PAGASA always indicates the amount of rainfall and the percentage re. chance of rain. When they say 15 to 20 mm of rain, the assumption is that the amount of rain is measured over a flat surface over an hour. So an area measuring 10 meters is multiplied by the number of expected rainfall.You figure it out...To have a picture of what it means, one balikbayan box is one cubic meter. That should be able to fill a pool over an hour. So since water has the innate tendency to flow, the low lying areas get inundated immediately.
Color coding also should be easy to understand. Yellow means monitoring. This means 10 - 20 meters of rainfall should not pose any threat to property or people. But over a sustained period of time it may turn to green . Green means Alert. That means flood waters are rising. 20 -30 meters of rain can cause flooding in the area. When the Red Code is sounded off... it means evacuate!!! MOVE people!!!! Being stubborn won't help. Your safety should be topmost priority.
Bells are sounded off from churches and barangay captains are on the prowl to ask people to seek higher ground. It occurs every year so it's no small wonder why people really should just leave for safer places to stay... I know our bayanihan habit speaks highly for our own reputation... but doing this year in and year out can take its toll especially when rescuing stranded people who refuse to budge all the time. Complicate this with rising flood waters and the threat of disease due to our wanton disposal of garbage and the problems are magnified.
We just have to all do our part if want to get rid of this perennial problem. And now... for the clean up... eeewwww!
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