08/04/2021
Rolly, Ulysses spark calls for climate justice as typhoons inundate Taguig
By Mark Ron Aliam Corpuz, SDO Makati
Residents of Barangay Bambang in Taguig City have been experiencing abrupt weather changes—as if changing from freezers to ovens, and then back to freezers again.
Consequently, the so-called Bambang Court, an important route that connects Kentucky Street to Katipunan Street, has totally been blocked off by waters.
Flooding has become a serious problem in Taguig City. Out of 28 villages, nine barangays are considered flood-prone “critical areas”: Bagumbayan, Bambang, Hagonoy, Ibayong Tipas, Lower Bicutan, Napindan, New Lower Bicutan, San Miguel, and Wawa. These villages are located near bodies of water such as Laguna Lake, Sta. Ana River and Napindan River. Normal rainfall that lasts one to two hours raises floodwater by up to 1.5 feet. But now, with an extended rainy season and strong rainfall, it’s most likely risen to four feet.
Because of this, the danger of flooding in these areas is higher than usual. This can also lead to disruptions on the daily lives of the people living in these areas. For example, Bambang Court, an important route connecting Kentucky Street and Katipunan Street has been blocked off by waters.
The rainy season has caused a major problem in Taguig these days. At times, PAGASA would raise red rainfall warnings—the highest in the agency’s warning system—in Metro Manila. This would lead to canal overflow in some parts of the city, resulting in garbage resurfacing onto the streets. In Bambang, power outages have also plagued residents due to storms bringing winds with strengths of up to 140 kph. This also resulted in weather irregularities. Freezers to ovens, and then back to freezers again - this is how residents of Barangay Bambang describes the abrupt weather changes Taguig City has been experiencing.
On the evening of November 11, Typhoon Ulysses raged all over Metro Manila and many parts of Luzon. It was a long, harrowing night for those who lived within the affected areas, as the typhoon’s strong winds and torrential rains caused immense floods in several cities, particularly in the capital.
Due to Ulysses, Marikina River’s water level quickly rose to an unexpected 22 meters, surpassing typhoon Ondoy’s 21.5 meters back in 2009.
Marikina is 16 to 20 kilometers away from Taguig. But knowing that both cities lie in the same region, flooding in Marikina will still likely affect other cities, especially flood-prone low-lying areas, during worst case scenarios.
Citizens in flood-prone areas just like Bambang and the other eight critical areas of Taguig were forced to stay up all night to be vigilant, out of fear that they might wake up submerged in rainwater inside their homes.
Work continues, nonetheless
Those who were safe extended their privilege to the ones in need; social media became a rescue platform and people gave free load to those who needed to contact their families.
It was a full-blown, twisted scenery of Bayanihan in the face of what seemed like an apocalypse. And during that time when everyone was told to evacuate, or keep safe inside their homes, some were still forced to go to work as if it was a normal day.
Sophia Cruz, 22, is a receptionist who works at Cypress Towers, a condominium building in Taguig City near the Diego Silang BCDA. She rides the tricycle on the way to work every day.
But on November 11 at 5:30 a.m., Ulysses was still wreaking havoc over the city at signal no. 3, and Sophia was in her work attire, getting ready to get out of the house.
Her cousin, who lay awake all night worrying about the rather strong typhoon, stared at her in shock and asked, “Ate, papasok ka pa rin ngayon? Malakas pa ‘yung bagyo ah. (You’re still going to work today? The typhoon is still strong.)”
Sophia just gave a forced smile, helpless at the circumstances she was in, and replied, “Oo, kailangan kami doon eh. (Of course, because they need us there.)”
The storm outside hadn’t even subsided yet as Sophia got out and set off to her destination. Nearing her workplace, the flood was starting to rise and the tricycle could not go on anymore. She was forced to walk there for five minutes.
Their condominium building was not spared from the flooding, as their drainages failed to backflow all the massive amounts of rainwater that arrived from C5 and BCDA.
“Nagsimula sa C5 ang baha, tapos sa BCDA naman. Ayun dumiretso lahat sa amin, kaya umapaw. Kahit anong pump ng mga drainage, ‘di na talaga mahigop,” Sophia explained.
And for the whole day until the end of her shift, the typhoon continued to rampage all around. As an employee, she had no choice but to work. As a human, she was scared for her life.
The likes of Sophia are everywhere. Much as she just wanted to stay home, she would still be forced to go to work in spite of the inclement weather.
Typhoon Ulysses is now known for surpassing Ondoy in 2009. Despite the destructive winds it brought, what’s scarier with Ulysses was its massive flooding.
Even Taguig City, which launched its Taguig Weather Monitoring System (TWMS) in February, was not safe from the onslaught. Its low-lying areas had to deal with the flood and several residents were forced to be evacuated. Nevertheless, the TWMS managed to provide real-time flood monitoring and community weather updates.
Calls for climate justice
Needless to say, natural disasters, which arrive naturally, stemmed from man’s destructive actions against our planet. As the Philippines is right in the firing line of typhoons, we are among the first to bear the brunt of global warming. And most of the time this is in the form of the likes of the destructive typhoon Ulysses.
Moreover, dams in Luzon spilled, causing more floods to worsen. Forced evacuations happened, and in Cagayan, several families are still struggling to get rescued in the dark as rivers overflowed.
Right after Typhoon Rolly (international name Goni) in October, Greenpeace Philippines called on President Rodrigo Duterte to declare a climate emergency.
This call for climate justice may refer to a report from The Carbon Majors Database, published by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), which states that 71% of the global emissions causing global warming came only from 100 companies in the world. More so, global warming, the worse it gets, causes warmer oceans; which in turn, creates more typhoons.
The fight to address and fix the climate crisis is not merely about individual-based solutions wherein we, on our own, avoid plastics, cars, meat and cow’s milk to protect the environment. While those can help, it can barely make a dent on our efforts to stop climate change.
That’s because climate justice also involves calling out large corporations, such as mining companies, electricity businesses (with unsustainable and expensive energy sources that use fossil fuels), and holding them accountable for the mountains and rivers they’ve damaged.
And hopefully, to stop them from doing any more harm to our lands and seas in the future. So no matter how much it rains, we wouldn’t have to drown in floods anymore.
In 2018, the United Nations IPCC reported that the world only has 12 years left to prevent irreversible damages from climate change.
Whether countries like the Philippines can manage to address this complex problem within that relatively short period of time is anybody’s guess.
This article was written and prepared by Mark Ron Corpuz (Student-Journalist) and Alexandria Cabaltica (School Paper Adviser) from Benigno "Ninoy" S. Aquino High School, Division of Makati City as a final output of DepEd-DRRMS and AYEJ.org’s Green Beat Initiative: An Online Environmental Journalism Training.
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