Ondoy after 3 weeks
Tomorrow it will be the third week after Ondoy has brought a lot of rain in the Manilla area.
At this moment several parts along Laguna bay are still flooded. According to authorities it might take another 6 to 8 weeks or longer for all the water to have gone. The problem is that Laguna Lake is full and there is no way for the water to go to the sea.
In Marikina, where we often go to do our shoppings, still several shops are not open yet. So there are Robinson’s supermarket, McDonalds, Mercury Drug, several banks and many other shops who are still cleaning the mess or maybe closed permanently.
After Ondoy it was Pepeng bringing a lot of water in the northern part of the Philippines. This typhoon didn’t want to go to the mainland of Asia, but prefered to stay in the Philippines. It has slowly died by now but large areas are flooded, many landslides took place and again many people died of this typhoon.
Melor didn’t reach the Philippines enough to bring any damage, because Pepeng was still there and didn’t allow a new typhoon to enter the region.
Coming weekend a new typhoon (named Lupit) is expected to hit the northern part of Luzon including the Manila region.
Click on the map to see a larger one.
One other reason for the flooded areas in Pampanga and Pangasinan is the releasing of water from several artificial lakes. This water is used for irrigation and general water supply. After heavy rainfall the level behind the dams is getting to high so there’s a chance of damaging the dam. That’s the reason that the water has to stay at a safe level. The only blame is for the authorities not to have anticipated earlier and releasing water earlier when heavy rain was to be expected.
Around Baguio city, where a lot of vegetables are coming from, many landslides took place. The rain and landslides have destroyed a lot of vegetable fields, so prices of vegetables are expected to rise sky high, especialy with Christmas season coming.
Filipino time:
