MANILA - If Typhoon “Pepeng" dumps even half of the rains that Tropical Storm Ondoy brought to Metro Manila on Sept. 26, the water level of Laguna de Bay may break its all-time record of 14.62 meters on the lake authority’s guage, possibly swamping more lakeside barangays in Metro Manila and Rizal and Laguna provinces.
This projection was made at a news briefing by Edgar Manda, chair of the Laguna Lake Development Authority, as he recommended the preemptive evacuation of some 100,000 people, specifically those living on the shorelines of Taguig, Cainta, Pasig, Taytay and Muntinlupa.
He described the LLDA as a “toothless tiger,” and said he had sought the help of the Office of Civil Defense, the Metro Manila Development Authority and the military to evacuate the imperiled residents.
Manda said some portions of Laguna flanking the lake, which serves as the catch basin of floodwaters coming from upper areas like Marikina and Rizal, might likewise be affected. He identified these areas as Sta. Rosa, Calamba, San Pedro, Los Baños and Paete.
Three days after rains brought by Ondoy inundated the capital, Laguna de Bay’s water level was at 13.82 meters on the agency’s monitoring scale, according to Manda.
And the possibility of it rising and submerging barangays on the lake’s shores would be high when Typhoon Pepeng strikes, he said.
“The water level may break its all-time record in 1919 if water continues to flow into the lake,” Manda said during a Powerpoint presentation of the current status of the lake and surrounding creeks and floodways.
The lowest water level recorded by the LLDA was 10.19 meters in 1969. The average increase in the lake level was at .28 meter a month.
But in the last three months of this year alone, the water level rose by 2 meters, or .67 meter a month.
The water went up by 1.2 meters after Ondoy brought rains that submerged a large swath of the capital and neighboring provinces.
Normally, an extreme increase of the water level in Laguna de Bay happens every 100 years. But the cycle has been shortened to 90 years, which Manda also attributed to climate change.
The floodwaters that continue to submerge barangays in Cainta and Pasig may take at least three months to dry up as the sox-kilometer stretch of the Manggahan Floodway has been constricted by thousands of squatter shanties and roads that should not have been built there, Manda said.
He said some of Ondoy’s floodwaters coming from upper Marikina at 3,300 cubic meters per second (or the same amount of water in an Olympic-size swimming pool) spilled to the lower areas of Marikina and Pasig because the floodway could only hold water at 2,400 cubic meters per second.
Meanwhile, the lake’s excess water cannot easily pass through the Napindan Channel in Taguig into the Pasig River and then to Manila Bay because of the squatters blocking the passageway.
Manda specifically identified a community of about 25,000 families in Sitio Lupang Arenda -- straddling Taguig, Taytay and Cainta.
“This is the best time to relocate them,” he said, adding that the LLDA repeatedly issued warnings in the past that the area was not safe for habitation.
Manda said Pepeng’s expected strong winds and heavy rains were a potential hazard for families living in Lupang Arenda. He also said the shanties blocking the Manggahan Floodway should be immediately removed.
He said he had reported the matter to Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. and Cainta Mayor Mon Ilagan.
Mayor Arlene Nazareno of Sta. Rosa, Laguna, said she would meet with municipal officials of Cabuyao and Biñan in Laguna and Silang in Cavite to discuss solutions to the problem of lingering floodwaters.
Barangays Caingin, Aplaya and Sinalhan in Sta. Rosa are still flooded as Laguna de Bay has not leveled off since Sept. 26, Nazareno said.
In Lumban, Laguna, Mayor Wilfredo Paraiso said the Caliraya reservoir had to release water on Thursday.
But he quoted the dam’s engineers as saying that there was “nothing to worry about” because the move increased the water level by only an inch.
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