PAGASA: Ondoy dumped more rain than Carina-enhanced Habagat in 6 hours

Super Typhoon Carina's enhancement of the Southwest Monsoon (Habagat) caused heavy rains and massive floods in Metro Manila on Wednesday, drawing comparisons to Tropical Storm Ondoy's devastation of the capital region in September 2009.

But in terms of the amount of rain, how do these two weather events compare?

Interviewed on GMA Integrated News Bulletin on Wednesday, PAGASA Assistant Weather Services chief Chris Perez said Ondoy, which crossed Central Luzon in late September 2009, dumped more than 300 millimeters of rain in six hours.

The Carina-enhanced Habagat generated 207 millimeters of rain over the course of six hours as the super typhoon approached Taiwan.

In another interview, Perez said it took 18 hours for the Carina-enhanced Habagat to drop more than 300 mm of rain.

“Itong current Habagat episode natin umabot pa ng around 18 hours bago umabot ng around 300 mm of rain. So kung titignan natin sa lakas, mas malakas yung ulan na dala ng Ondoy kasi bagyo nga po ito,” he told Balitanghali on Thursday.

(It took 18 hours for this current Habagat to dump around 300 mm of rain. So if we look at it, Ondoy caused intense rainfall because it was a tropical cyclone.)

When compared to the 2012 monsoon rains, Ondoy had a bigger impact in terms of rainfall, the PAGASA official said.

''Yung Habagat episode noong 2012 at yung Habagat episode ngayong 2024 na halos parehas ang scenario mas mabilis pa rin ang paulan na idinulot ng Bagyong Ondoy noong 2009,'' Perez said.

(The scenarios of the Habagat episode in 2012 and the Habagat episode in 2024 are almost the same; however, in 2009, Tropical Storm Ondoy dumped more rain in a shorter time.)

Heavy rainfall in Metro Manila may persist until Friday, Perez said.

“Dito sa Metro Manila possible na ngayon araw hanggang bukas, posible hanggang Friday, may mga pag ulan pa rin tayo. Posible lang mabawasan yung pag ulan beginning Saturday pa po,” Perez said.

(In Metro Manila, it is possible that from today until tomorrow, possibly until Friday, we still have heavy rainfall. It is possible that the rain will be reduced beginning Saturday.)

Meanwhile, Mayor Ronnie Evangelista of Montalban, Rizal, said more people were able to evacuate to safety because the flood waters were rising more slowly than they did during Ondoy and Typhoon Ulysses in 2020.

About 6,000 individuals or over 1,000 families are in evacuation centers.

Evangelista said the Montalban local government has distributed financial aid to its 11 barangays, of which eight are submerged in floods and three are affected by the landslide.

Some residents opted to stay at a gasoline station as their evacuation center was flooded. They were asking for food as they had not eaten since Wednesday morning.

According to Evangelista, there are no reports yet of casualties or missing persons in the town. —Mariel Celine Serquiña and Vince Angelo Ferreras/VBL, GMA Integrated News