Baha uli! Here we go again!

I think I may have spoken too soon yesterday when I wrote that we were lucky for now. It seems the "now" applied to yesterday and not for the entirety of this rain event. The tropical storm up north and near Taiwan is practically stationary and all forecasts state that it will be moving only by tomorrow afternoon or evening. Maring (International: Trami) has been there since the weekend and has intensified monsoon rains. Its impacts have caused devastation over a large area of the country, particularly in the island of Luzon. Hard hit is Mega Manila and our residence has not been spared by the intense rains the past few days. Below is a satellite photo from the Weather Underground showing the tropical storm and the rains (clouds) it has attracted.

As yesterday's floods subsided, we thought we could finally breathe more easily. But then this morning it was not to be as heavy rains poured almost everywhere, and causing much misery to all. We can now only pray that the rains will finally let up and for the floods to subside quickly. We only have our faith to keep ourselves together in this difficult time.

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Lucky for now

I had difficulty sleeping last night due to the intermittent heavy rains that caused flooding all around Mega Manila including where we live. However, unlike last year's floods brought about by monsoon rains, we were lucky this time that the flood waters only reached our home's garage gate instead of entering our home. Last year during a similar Habagat event, it was knee deep inside our house but that was much better than when we were inundated by Ondoy (Ketsana) when it was neck-deep in our house!

Of course, this will not be the last of the heavy rains expected for Metro Manila and its surrounding areas for this year. We are only in the third week of August and the local weather bureau has stated its forecasts of a number of typhoons to be expected during this wet season. Typically, that is a period that lasts until November with the occasional typhoon or two in December. And so we would have to brace ourselves and pray that the next events would not be as bad as this current one. Hopefully, too, this sends another strong message to whoever is in charge and responsible to hurry up with whatever flood mitigation projects need to be done to improve the lives of a lot of people regularly affected by floods.

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Have a safe night...

I was planning to post something on the National Art Gallery of the National Museum of the Philippines tonight. Unfortunately, I was unable to sort through so many photos I took of works by Juan Luna, Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo, Jose Rizal, Fernando Amorsolo, Vicente Manansala, Guillermo Tolentino, and other prominent national artists. I will do my sorting in the next few days but hopefully in a more relaxed state. I say relaxed because it has been raining hard in Metro Manila the past 2 days and the weather bureau has just issued a "red" warning indicating heavy rains in the next few hours and the possibility of severe flooding in low-lying areas.

We have taken precautions for the eventuality of a flood but are hopeful it won't be of the scale of last year's Habagat (monsoon) or, huwag naman sana, 2009's Ondoy. I am sure that a lot of people won't be able to get a good sleep tonight and vigilance is really key if we are to reduce the impacts of such rains (i.e., floods and the damage to lives and properties they cause). Already, there are many reports of flooding all around Metro Manila and this because of inclement weather due to the monsoon being intensified by a tropical depression near Taiwan, north of the Philippines.

We can only pray that things will go well and that the rains will pause.  Given the uncertainties associated with weather systems, let's just hope that the weather will improve tomorrow and we can finally breathe a sigh of relief soon.

Have a safe night to all!

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