With rains worse than 'Ondoy', red alert raised over Manila, provinces

Rainfall accumulation for 18 August 2013 derived by Filipino Scientist, Irene Crisologo, using Doppler radar. Posted by Mahar Lagmay on Twitter

Red rainfall alert raised over Metro Manila, provinces

ABS-CBNnews.com

Posted at 08/20/2013 8:07 AM | Updated as of 08/20/2013 9:26 AM

MANILA, Philippines - State weather bureau PAGASA on Tuesday morning raised a red rainfall alert in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

This, amid rains spawned by the southwest monsoon (habagat) that has been made more intense by Tropical Storm Maring.

PAGASA, in an advisory issued 7:30 a.m., said heavy to torrential rains are currently affecting Metro Manila, Rizal, Laguna, Bulacan, Zambales, Cavite, Bataan, Pampanga and Occidental Mindoro.

Moderate to heavy rains affecting Batangas, Laguna and Quezon are also most likely to continue for the next 3 hours. "Severe flooding is expected," PAGASA said.

New habagat rains worse than storm 'Ondoy'

by Jojo Malig, ABS-CBNNews.com

Posted at 08/19/2013 

MANILA (2nd UPDATE) - As much as 600 millimeters of rain fell on Manila Bay on August 18, a new record high, according to scientists.

The record-high rains were spawned by the southwest monsoon, or habagat, intensified by storm Maring.

Project NOAH's Dr. Mahar Lagmay on early Monday morning shared Doppler radar maps created by the University of the Philippines-National Institute of Geological Sciences' Irene Crisologo that showed the extent of rainfall in Metro Manila and nearby areas Sunday and Monday.

The accumulation maps show areas in Cavite, Pampanga, Bataan, Zambales and Manila Bay covered in pink (420 mm to 580 mm rainfall), as well as white (600 mm or almost two feet of rain).

To compare, Ondoy dumped only around 455 mm rainfall in 24 hours in 2009, and around 472 mm of rainfall fell in Quezon City in a day during the 2012 habagat.

The 600 mm amount of rain seen on the August 18 Doppler radar map did not fall over land, but over Manila Bay. 

"There is a blind spot sa radar. Nasa south sector.  Madami ang ulan na bumagsak sa Manila Bay. Iyung matataas ay sa Manila Bay," Lagmay told ABS-CBNNews.com.

"For the white areas (600 mm rainfall) , there are currently no rain gauges that would verify those readings," Crisologo said. Lagmay echoed her statement. "Noong habagat 2012 ay ganyan din. Sa dagat (lang) bumagsak," he said.

Rainfall amount in the Philippines as of Aug. 20, 2013, 8:02 am, posted by Mahar Lagmay