EDITORIAL - Freak flood

As of yesterday three residents were still missing in the flash floods that had left 29 confirmed fatalities, many of them children, in Davao City. Most of the victims were reportedly asleep when the floodwaters rose rapidly in a city that is not used to being hit by storms and typhoons, much less killer floods. Being out of the usual path of such weather disturbances in fact is among the come-ons dangled by the city to tourists.

As in the devastation caused by “Ondoy” and “Pepeng” two years ago in Metro Manila and other parts of Luzon, the freak flood in Davao illustrates that in the age of climate change, the days of usual, predictable weather patterns are over. Such massive flooding cannot be blamed simply on an infestation of water hyacinths, as in Cotabato City. These days freak weather has become the new normal. And Filipinos will have to prepare for more of such natural calamities in the immediate future.

Even before the catastrophic flooding spawned by Ondoy and Pepeng had fully subsided, weather experts had already warned that the disaster could happen again. Most Filipinos are used to storms, typhoons and floods; the country could go through the entire alphabet in naming the tropical cyclones that enter the Philippine area of responsibility every year. What was different about Ondoy was the unusually heavy amount of rainfall, the swiftness by which the floodwaters rose, and the destructive force as the floods rampaged across Metro Manila and much of Luzon.

Since then the country has experienced swift and massive flooding during downpours, even in areas that have long been flood-free. Without sustained rain, the flash floods quickly subside. But most people are unprepared for the volume of water and the speed of the inundation. The government cannot afford to be as unprepared. The flash floods in Davao should remind authorities to prepare for worse disasters ahead.