EDITORIAL — Early casualties

The first typhoon of the year has not yet arrived. But in recent days, three people have already died and thousands of families displaced by heavy rainfall and flooding triggered by the monsoon and a low-pressure area.

Disaster management officials said the three were swept away while crossing a spillway that overflowed its banks amid heavy rain in Balingasag, Misamis Oriental. About 270 families have taken shelter in five evacuation sites set up across the country.

Several times in recent years, disaster mitigation agencies have been caught unprepared by torrential rainfall that swelled rivers and caused heavy floods that rose so rapidly people were trapped in offices, schools and commercial centers. Those at home had no time to move their cars and furniture to higher ground. Densely populated urban centers including Metro Manila and Legazpi City in Albay suffered the worst destruction.

Local government officials who got most of the blame for unpreparedness pointed to the lack of warnings on approaching calamity. State weather forecasters, on the other hand, maintained that they issued timely and accurate alerts on the expected volume of rainfall. Officials countered that the color-coded alerts were confusing and did not reflect the urgency of the situation.

People are used to the alert system for tropical cyclones, but the number-coded warnings refer to wind speed and not the amount of rainfall. Weather experts promised to fine-tune the warning system for rainfall and flooding. Is the enhanced system in place?

Across the globe, extreme weather has become more common, with experts pointing to climate change as the culprit. Experts have warned that the Philippines is among the countries most vulnerable to the impact of global warming. For many years now, the country has experienced the destruction caused by extreme weather, from storm surges in Manila Bay to the apocalyptic devastation caused by Super Typhoon Yolanda.

In July last year, flash floods and landslides spawned by heavy monsoon rains compounded by the release of water from two dams left at least 21 people dead in Metro Manila and neighboring areas. 

We have seen the consequences of being unprepared.  Now that the wet season is upon us, authorities must ensure that all the rainfall and flood alert protocols are in place and properly coordinated for appropriate responses by the various agencies.