Looking back at Ondoy’s onslaught 10 years later

It has been 10 years since tropical storm Ondoy (international name Ketsana) ravaged Luzon with torrential rainfalls that submerged many areas in floods, claiming up to 464 lives.

A GMA News Unang Balita report on Thursday said a decade has already passed but the lessons that came with the calamity remained relevant in disaster risk management in the country to this day.

On September 26, 2009, Ondoy’s rainfall covered many roads in as high as neck-deep floods. Some residents were seen screaming for help from the top of their roofs.

The strength of Ondoy's winds was not considered strong, but it was its torrential rains that created the heaviest damage. According to PAGASA, the rainfall reached 455 millimeters on September 26, 2009 in 24 hours.

A big part of Luzon including the National Capital Region (NCR) was placed under the state of calamity due to the disaster.

Almost 200,000 homes were destroyed, at least 529 people were injured, and 37 went missing.

The 464 death toll recorded during Ondoy’s onslaught was considered as the 6th highest number of casualty by a weather disturbance in the past 12 years.

Most of the victims came from Quezon City, Marikina, and Rizal.

Since then, authorities have intensified their disaster risk management efforts and response to avoid a repeat of the impact that Ondoy brought in 2009. — Joviland Rita/MDM, GMA News