Near-Ondoy rainfall volume hits Quezon, Marikina cities

MANILA, Philippines - Near-Ondoy level of rainfall struck Quezon and Marikina Cities at around 5 p.m. Friday, the state weather bureau reported.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said in its 5:25 p.m. rainfall advisory that up to 55 millimeters per hour of rainfall poured into the two cities.

This amount of rainfall was already very near Typhoon Ondoy's rainfall volume of 56 millimeter per hour. Ondoy paralyzed Metro Manila with massive flooding in just six hours.

"At 05:00PM observation: Torrential rainfall (40.0-55.0 mm/hr) over QC and Marikina," reported through its Twitter account.

Several areas in Quezon City have been flooded since Tuesday due to the overflowing of the La Mesa Dam. Residents of Marikina City have also been suffering from floods as the Marikina River went over its critical level.

PAGASA said that heavy to intense rainfall were also observed over Manila, north of Caloocan and Pasig City. Moderate to heavy rainfall, meanwhile, were observed over the rest of Metro Manila.

The weather bureau said that the sudden heavy downpour on Wednesday afternoon was caused by "a series of thunderstorm commonly associated with rains of high intensity."

The weather bureau again raised a red warning signal at 4:30 p.m. after Metro Manila was hit by torrential rains.

The weather bureau said that torrential rainfall as heavy as 50 millimeters per hour hit the cities of Quezon, Manila and Marikina between 3:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.

More than a dozen people have been killed and thousands have been displaced by floods and a landslide in Metro Manila since it was hit by torrential rains on Sunday night.