Authorities on alert as water level in Marikina River rising
MANILA, Philippines – The water level in the Marikina River has been rising at a gradual pace in the past several hours, a hydrologist said Tuesday as Metro Manila experienced rains due to a Low Pressure Area.
Max Peralta, Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) hydrologist, said that at least three water level monitoring stations along the Marikina River have registered increasing water levels.
“[The water level] is increasing continuously at about 6 millimeters per hour,” Peralta said in a phone interview with Inquirer.net. He said that the rainfall amount was average.
Based on the Flood Forecasting and Warning System (FFWS) of Pagasa, which was still under testing phase, the water level at the Tumana Bridge in Marikina was 17.32 meters around 3:00 p.m.
An alert will be raised when the water level reaches 17.10 meters while an alarm will be sounded at 17.70 meters, Peralta said. The critical water level at 18.30 meters will automatically require an evacuation of locals.
These criteria for alert, alarm, and critical levels will require further studies and testing to make sure if they are appropriate, Peralta said. It would also need to be coordinated with the local government units so they can accurately determine when the water level was high enough to actually warrant measures such as evacuation.
Article continues after this advertisementMeanwhile, the Sto. Nino Bridge water level monitoring station recorded the water level of the Marikina River at 14. 80 meters. The alert level for the station was 14 meters while the alarm level was 15 meters and the critical level was 16 meters.
Article continues after this advertisementAt the Marcos Highway monitoring station, the water level was recorded at 13.77 meters. The alert level for Marcos Highway was 13 meters, the alarm level was 14.10 meters, and the critical level was 14.90 meters, Peralta said.
Peralta said that the FFWS, which feeds raw water level data to the Pagasa website every 10 minutes, was newly installed and would need more testing and studies.
