Metro Manila Development Authority Chairman Emerson Carlos has urged local executives in the National Capital Region to be prepared for the La Niña phenomenon which is expected to bring heavy rains in October.
“The full effects of La Niña would be felt in October. We expect there will be above normal rainfall. We will have 20 days of rain in a month. Thus, they should be prepared,” the MMDA chief said.
Carlos, who also heads the Metro Manila Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council, assured that rehabilitated facilities; including the 12 water-pumping stations and flood-warning systems, are expected to boost their flood-control program.
“As for the preparations, we have the Estero Blitz, upgrading of pumping stations and the Effective Flood Control Operating System [EFCOS],” he said.
However, the effects of La Niña could worsen flooding, Carlos said.
He foresaw that those facilities, significant in monitoring and alleviating flooding in the metropolis, would be put to the test.
The rehabilitated pumping stations are the Libertad, Quiapo, Tripa de Galina, Pandacan, Valencia, Binondo, Aviles, Paco, Makati, Sta. Clara, Balete and the Arroceros stations.
Since their upgrade last year, Carlos said, this will be the first year the MMDA will use the newly installed pump engines in the rainy season.
He noted that they will test a newly improved and restored flood-control system in Pasig City.
Carlos said EFCOS will greatly contribute to flood control and early warning against floods.
He added that the project will be beneficial not only to eastern Metro Manila residents but to those in the province of Rizal, such as the municipalities of San Mateo and Rodriguez—all of which saw massive flooding in the wake of Typhoon “Ondoy.”
MMDA Flood Control and Sewerage Management Office chief Baltazar Melgar assured that the agency’s 54 pumping stations are fully functional and each engine had the capability to pump 350 drums of floodwater per second.
“These pumping stations are vital for flood mitigation because Manila’s elevation is only a little higher than the main sea level,” Melgar said.
He also said there was a design capacity within the flood control structures, enabling the excess waters to overflow and cause floods when they reach their limit.
“Our flood control structures have a design capacity that can only accommodate a certain rainfall intensity,” Melgar said.