Manila: Government offices and 15 universities in Metro Manila’s “University Belt” were closed three hours after lunch when heavy rains that lasted only for one hour caused flash floods that paralysed several parts of Metro Manila until past six in the evening, radio and TV reports said.
Students and public office workers were at the mercy of heavy traffic that ensued when streets in many areas in Manila, in several parts of Makati City, the financial district, in suburban Quezon City and other adjacent suburban areas were flooded from 16 to 36 inches, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said.
All affected streets were impassable to small vehicles, said Roger Nicodemus, communications officer of the Flood Control and Information Center of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).
Critics vented their ire on radio and TV as MMDA announced its new flood-control project in preparation for the start of the rainy season.
“I have been experiencing this problem every rainy season. I don’t think the government will ever solve this problem,” said Gina de Leon, a student who was stranded in Makati City.
“My parents and grandparents said they have experienced flash floods all the time,” de Leon complained, adding that she could not understand why schools open at the start of the rainy season.
Residents called up radio stations and blamed the department of public works and highways that begin road construction projects just a month before the rainy season.
There is no storm, just a low pressure area in the South China Sea, which is bring in heavy rains, said the weather station.
“We wonder what will happen again when real storms start coming,” said George Cruz, a security guard whose family lives in a flood-prone low lying area in suburban Marikina.
