QUEZON CITY (QC) suffered widespread flooding over the weekend after intense rainfall, which exceeded rains brought by Typhoon Ondoy in 2009, overwhelmed its drainage system, its local government said on Saturday.
In a statement on social media, the local government said 36 out of the city’s 142 villages were battered after a downpour dumped as much as 121 millimeters of rain in just an hour, surpassing Ondoy’s peak intensity of about 90 millimeters per hour.
Citing the University of the Philippines (UP) Resilience Institute at UP NOAH Center, the state weather bureau and QC’s IRISEUP, the local government described the weather event as “phenomenal.”
The heaviest rainfall was recorded in Quezon City and neighboring Marikina, according to preliminary analysis from the University of the Philippines Resilience Institute and the state weather bureau.
The city noted that even areas not usually prone to floods were affected, with districts 1, 3, and 4 experiencing the worst cases.
Floodwater subsided quickly due to ongoing declogging efforts by the city’s Department of Engineering, while sanitation crews cleared debris that blocked waterways, the statement added.
The Philippines this August suffered five tropical depressions, coupled with the intensity of the southwest monsoon (habagat). — Chloe Mari A. Hufana
