Beneath the Asphalt: The Buried Truth Behind Metro Manila's Floods

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Let's delve deeper into this critical issue. The question of why our streets flood so easily goes beyond the simple answer of heavy rain. It's a dramatic story of human development clashing with the natural world, a narrative that affects millions of people and billions of pesos.

The Real Culprit: A River's Memory

The prevailing assumption is that floods are caused by clogged drains and relentless downpours. While these factors contribute to the problem, they are not the root cause. According to Dr. Mahar Lagmay, Executive Director of UP NOAH, the real reason is a matter of geography and urban planning. The most flood-prone streets are not random—they are located in areas that were historically natural waterways. "It was really a waterway, but we paved a street over it," he explains.

This means that every time it rains heavily, water naturally seeks out its original path. These paths, however, have been sealed by layers of asphalt and concrete, forcing the water to rise and overflow. Metro Manila, in particular, is an isthmus situated between Manila Bay and Laguna de Bay and lies on one of the Philippines' widest floodplains. It is home to a major river basin, the Marikina River Basin, and eight smaller sub-basins. The region's geography makes it naturally prone to flooding, a vulnerability that has been amplified by uncontrolled and rapid urbanization since the 1970s. This "urban sprawl" has covered natural ground that used to absorb rainwater, leaving the water with nowhere to go.

The Heavy Price of Urbanization

The consequences of this geographical oversight are staggering. The "urban flashfloods" that paralyze cities have a devastating economic impact. According to a 2017 study co-authored by Dr. Lagmay, the estimated daily economic loss due to traffic congestion from flooding in Metro Manila is up to Php 2.4 billion per day. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has long partnered with the Philippines to address this issue, recognizing that such frequent disasters are a major impediment to sustainable economic growth. Their projects, like the Manggahan Floodway, have been instrumental in mitigating damage, with one analysis showing an 80% reduction in damage during a major typhoon.

But the issue isn't just about economics; it's also about a century-old drainage system that is overwhelmed by modern development and is often clogged by garbage. The combination of these factors makes flooding inevitable, even with relatively short but intense rain events.

The Path Forward: Science, Technology, and Community

Despite the grim picture, there are actionable solutions. A study on "Street floods in Metro Manila" published in the Journal of Environmental Sciences outlines several key interventions:

Elevate Roads: Raise the elevation of streets that are in topographic low areas, especially where they intersect with creeks.

Improve Drainage: Design and build more effective drainage systems that can handle large volumes of water and direct them to the nearest stream channel.

Utilize Technology: Employ tools like Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and flood simulation to create accurate maps and models for more precise urban planning. This kind of technology helps engineers determine which roads are lower than the creeks and how to best manage water flow.

Complementing these structural changes are community-based initiatives. The Lyfsaver app, developed by the UP Resilience Institute and other partners, is a community-powered platform that allows people to report real-time hazards like floods and landslides. This crowdsourced data provides a more accurate picture of what's happening on the ground, enabling faster response times and better-informed decisions. It is a powerful example of how the public can be part of the solution, transforming a problem of geography into a problem of collective action.

In the end, the flooding on our streets isn't an act of nature, but a consequence of our choices. The solution lies not just in better engineering, but in a fundamental shift in perspective—recognizing and respecting the natural pathways of water that our concrete jungles have tried to erase.

Photo from the Market Monitor

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