Vehicles got submerged in floodwaters in parts of Metro Cebu due to the heavy rains on Monday afternoon, September 11. | Contributed photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu experienced “intense to torrential” rains on Monday, September 11 which resulted in massive floods in parts of the metro.
This was confirmed on Tuesday, September 12 by the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration Mactan (Pagasa-Mactan).
Pagasa-Mactan Chief Al Quiblat said that from 3:48 p.m. to 4:40 they recorded 29.6 millimeters of rainfall in Mactan only.
However, he said that the rain that caused floods in some parts of Mandaue City and Cebu City was more than 30 millimeters of rain as seen on their radar.
READ: Floods hit some areas in Mandaue, Cebu cities
He said that the one-hour duration of rain has produced a huge amount of rainwater since it fell under the “intense to torrential” category of rainfall intensity.
Rainfall intensity
According to Quiblat, the intensity of rain has the following categories: light (less than 2.55 mm per hour); light to moderate (2.5 to 4.5 mm per hour); moderate (4.5 to 5.5 mm/hour); moderate to heavy (5.5 to 7.5 mm per hour); heavy (7.5 to 15 mm per hour); intense (15 to 30 mm per hour), and torrential (more than 30 mm of rains per hour).
The recorded amount of rainfall on Monday equates to 150,000 drums or barrels per square kilometer.
Quiblat said that the intensity of rain on Monday was not due to the southwest monsoon or habagat.
“Ang gahapon is [due] localized thunderstorm ra gyud. Ang habagat hinay ang epekto sa atoa gahapon, ang hinungdan ra gyud (sa ulan) kay thunderstorm,” he said.
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Quiblat advised the public to regularly check their thunderstorm advisory and be updated on the information that Pagasa issues in a day.
“Kay kining small scale nga panghitabo pariho aning thunderstorm, dali ni siya mo develop ug dali pod maka mugna og passing rains bisag short duration, naay usahay during severe thunderstorm [kay] kusog iyang ulan nga ibundak mao nang magbaha ug dahili sa yuta,” he said. /rcg
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