Metro Manila braces for more rains due to ‘Juaning’

MANILA, Philippines – Traffic has been reduced to a crawl along the southbound lane of Edsa as rains spawned by Tropical Storm “Juaning” continued to drench Metro Manila Wednesday morning, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority said.

Philip Gregorio of the MMDA Metrobase said that heavy traffic was monitored along the southbound lane of EDSA from Buendia to Timog. He said that the northbound lane was moderate to heavy from Buendia to Guadalupe.

Along C5, from Libis to Bagong Ilog, traffic is moderate to heavy, Gregorio said.

Traffic in the rest of Metro Manila is light, he added.

Meanwhile, all floods from Tuesday night have subsided, said Rosbid Bamba of the MMDA Flood Control but that they were monitoring the areas of Camanava, Manila, and Quezon City that were known to be perennially affected by floods.

Amount, however, is much lower compared to Tropical Storm Ondoy’s 56 mm per hour in September 26, 2009 when it flooded large parts of Metro Manila after continuous downpour.

Classes were already suspended from kindergarten to college in anticipation of Juaning’s heavy rains.

As of 5 a.m., public storm signal number 2 is hoisted over Metro Manila, where residents are expected to brace winds of greater than 60 kilometers per hour (kph) and up to 100 kph in at least 24 hours.

Yumul also downplayed chances that Juaning will develop into a typhoon since it already made landfall.

Juaning, the tenth storm to visit the country this year, had its first landfall in Casiguran, Aurora at 9:30 a.m.

“We are monitoring Angat and Ipo dams as Juaning will affect NCR (National Capital Region) and possibly fill these dams,” he said.

On Tuesday, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said they have already activated pumping stations that would help flood waters to subside.

MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino also said they are currently monitoring flood-prone areas in the metropolis and emergency personnel are ready to respond to any eventuality.

Manila renovates public pools

Philippines Twitter— The City of Manila has renovated public swimming pools to provide residents alternatives to taking a dip in contaminated and polluted sea waters of Manila Bay.

Airine Santiago of the Manila City Hall media bureau said public pools were renovated especially for the summer season to discourage Manilans from flocking to the bay area where waters are highly infected with fecal coli form bacteria.

Renovated were the city’s public pools at the Arturo Tolentino Sports Complex in Dapitan, the San Andres Sports Complex in Malate, the Celia Sports Complex in Quirino, the Tondo Sports Complex and the Bagong Buhay Sports Complex along Pedro Gil.

She added that everybody is welcome at public pool facilities for as long as they coordinate with the Sport Complex officials.

One person can just come to the area as walk-in, while those who are in groups need to write an intention letter to Parks Recreation Bureau,” Santiago said.

Still, many resident of Manila and nearby cities flocked to the Manila Bay area last Easter Sunday despite an existing city ordinance banning swimming in its waters.