EDITORIAL - Flood (out of) control

Into the early hours of Wednesday, traffic remained at a standstill in many parts of southern Metro Manila and neighboring Cavite and Laguna. Traffic started getting snarled as heavy rain poured early in the evening, spawning flash floods that rose rapidly and took a long time to subside.

Being once again caught by surprise by the downpour revived questions about rainfall alerts and flood control systems.

It’s not the first time that Mega Manila has been hit by unusually heavy rainfall and torrential floodwaters that rise so rapidly, leaving no time for those affected to bring their cars, furniture and other personal belongings to higher ground. Storm Ondoy unleashed devastating floods in Metro Manila and Central Luzon way back in September 2009.

After Ondoy, there was a lot of talk about boosting rainfall warning capability and flood control systems nationwide. Scientists at the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration say the state weather agency has boosted its rainfall projection capability with the acquisition of more Doppler radars. PAGASA also developed a color-coded rainfall warning system.

Yet in October last year, the Bicol Region was again caught unprepared by the cataclysmic rainfall brought by Tropical Storm Kristine, which submerged about 30 percent of Naga City in massive flooding. It took a long time for the devastating floods to subside.

There was no tropical cyclone last Tuesday in Mega Manila; state meteorologists attributed the rainfall, described by affected residents as unusually intense, to the southwest monsoon.

What happened to the color-coded rainfall warning system? PAGASA scientists have maintained that they issue timely and regular rainfall alerts and other climate-related warnings. The government may have to designate an agency to amplify these alerts to the public, possibly through digital messaging apps, so that these can serve efficiently as early warnings about expected heavy rainfall and the probability of flooding.

The government may find it harder to answer the other question that always crops up after such freak floods: do we have a flood control system to speak of? What happened to the billions allocated annually for flood control? If these projects are in place, why do floods take forever to subside? Where do our taxes go?

Anti-graft advocates have said flood control projects such as river dredging are difficult to monitor for implementation and are therefore major sources of corruption.

The season of destructive typhoons and floods is just starting. The government must sufficiently address questions about flood control and rainfall alerts.