MANILA, Philippines – Torrential rains spawned by southwest monsoon have surpassed the amount of rainfall during tropical storm Ondoy (international name Ketsana) in 2009 which inundated a huge part of Metro Manila and nearby areas.
Accumulated rainfall for Tuesday was 472 mm in 22 hours, while Ondoy’s record was at 455 mm in 24 hours at Science Garden in Quezon City, according to Project NOAH by the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical Astronomical Services Administration.
The accumulated rainfall for the 22-hour period was recorded from 4:45 p.m. Monday to 3 p.m. Tuesday.
Heavy to Intense rainfall (7.5-28.0mm/hr) was observed over Metro Manila for the past three hours, according to Pagasa’s bulletin issued at 3:30 p.m.
Due to the effect of the series of thunderstorms associated with the southwest monsoon, expect heavy to intense rainfall (10-30mm/hr) with occasional torrential (more than 30mm/hr) within three hours, it said.
The southwest monsoon enhanced by tropical storm “Haikui” located 300kilometers northeast of Taiwan will continue to bring occasional to frequent rains over Luzon becoming moderate to heavy rains in the provinces of Ilocos, La Union, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Zambales, Bataan, Pampanga, Bulacan, Rizal, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas and National Capital region Tuesday until Wednesday.
A gradual improvement of weather condition was seen Thursday and onwards to the weekend, Pagasa said.
