Flood in Makati
Flooding along Malugay Street Vittorio Hernandez
Flooding along Malugay Street

With its rainfall of 266 millimetres over less than 24 hours, Typhoon Fung-Wong (Mario) is now being compared more to the destructive Ketsana (Ondoy) that inundated Metro Manila for one week in September 2009 than the Super Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda), which brought very powerful winds that devastated the Visayas islands.

Ketsana dumped a record 455 millimetres of rainfall over 24 hours, the bulk of which fell in just three hours in the morning. Philippine weathermen said that Fung-Wong continues to pour water over the national capital region and nearby provinces, threatening to approach the rainfall in 2009.

Ketsana broke records in the Philippines as it destroyed $1.09 billion worth of properties and claimed more than 700 lives. The water level then in low-lying areas was so high that it inundated even the second floors of residences in Marikina City.

Fung-Wong has so far claimed only one life, a 2-year-old infant from Quezon City who drowned in flood waters, but it displaced more than 100,000 families or over 470,000 Filipinos in Metro Manila, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Mimaropa and Central Visayas.

Reports place the number of inundated areas at 105 across the affected regions, caused by the combined effect of Fung-Wong and the southwest monsoon that brought moderate to heavy downpour and thunderstorms, paralysing Metro Manila.

Private sector employees whose dismissal was left in the hands of individual companies and government workers who were not aware of the work suspension were stranded as many parts of the NCR were waist-deep and impassable to vehicles. This forced many workers to walk home.

Classes in all levels were suspended, government offices were closed and the Philippine Stock Exchange was shuttered due to lack of clearing and settlement operations. It was the second time in 2014 that the bourse was shuttered by bad weather. The first was on July 16.

In the flood-prone Marikina City, water level in the Marikina River was close to reaching 20 metres, making the local government impose a mandatory evacuation of residents near the river.

The orange rainfall warning continues to be placed over Metro Manila, while the weather bureau placed the provinces of Bataan, Zambales, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija under red rainfall warning, meaning these areas are at the risk of severe flooding.

Read: It's Haiyan All Over Again As Philippines Grapples With Heavy Rain, Floods

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