Habagat rains to persist till Friday, but they will be less intense

MANILA, Philippines — Rains are expected to continue pouring across the western parts of the country, including Metro Manila, for the rest of the week.

This is because two low pressure areas (LPAs) draw in the southwest monsoon (habagat), the state weather bureau said on Tuesday.

Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) Deputy Administrator for Operations and Services Roy Badilla said the country should expect continued rainfall until Friday.

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But he predicted that the rains are unlikely to reach the volume recorded on Monday.

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“The two low pressure areas will draw in the habagat. But we are not expecting the same amount of rainfall that we had yesterday,” Badilla said.

“Based on our data, however, the rain will continue through the weekdays,” he added.

READ: Habagat to persist over parts of Luzon, Visayas Tuesday

According to Pagasa’s advisory earlier on Tuesday, the two LPAs have high chances of developing into tropical depressions within the next 24 hours.

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The first LPA (LPA 08f) was last located at 1,170 kilometers east of extreme northern Luzon, while the other second LPA (LPA 08g) was at 400 km west of Calayan, Cagayan.

Badilla said the two LPAs are helping pull the habagat toward the country, which brings rains to the Philippines’ western sections, including Metro Manila.

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A tropical depression is also being monitored east of the Philippines.

It is located more than 3,000 kilometers away and has no effect in the country for now.

Pagasa recorded 239 millimeters of rainfall at its Science Garden station in Quezon City from 8 a.m. Monday to 8 a.m. Tuesday.

Most of the rain fell within a six-hour period from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., when the station recorded 202 mm.

This is equivalent to 11 days worth of average rain in August.

READ: 27 killed as ‘habagat’ brings 3rd week of rainfall

However, Badilla clarified that Monday’s torrential rains were well below the rainfall recorded during the onslaught of Tropical Storm Ondoy (Ketsana) in September 2009.

Badilla said Ondoy recorded 381 mm of rain in six hours.

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“So the amount of rainfall from Ondoy was more than twice that recorded yesterday. If we look at the damage, the impact of Ondoy was still considerably greater,” he explained. /apl