Motorists should stay off the road today if they have no urgent business. Roads including Araneta Avenue and Quezon Avenue in Quezon City have become flooded and impassable as heavy rain continued in Metro Manila and Northern Luzon. As tropical storm “Mario” continue to bring heavy rains in some parts of Luzon, the state weather bureau raised the orange rainfall warning early Friday to red in Metro Manila and provinces of Rizal and Laguna.
In its latest bulletin, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said under red rainfall warning, severe flooding is expected as heavy to intense rains continue.
Red rainfall warning means the rainfall amount is more than 30 millimeters and is expected in an hour. If it continues for three hours, 65 mm rainfall amount is expected.
Under the red rainfall warning, 15 to 30 millimeters of rainfall is expected in the next two hours. The yellow rainfall warning, meanwhile, means 7.5 to 15 mm of rainfall amount is expected within an hour.
Meanwhile, light to moderate with occasional heavy rains will be experienced in Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Zambales, Bataan and Tarlac within three hours.
Areas under yellow rainfall alert include the provinces of Cavite, Batangas and Quezon. These areas are expected to have flooding in low-lying areas.
Pagasa also earlier raised the yellow warning alert in the provinces of Cavite, Batangas and Quezon, where flooding may be experienced in the low-lying areas.
In these provinces, 7.5 to 15 mm of rainfall is expected within an hour.
The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) suspended the number coding for motorists, except in Makati and Las Pinas, Friday.
Under the traffic scheme, vehicles with plate numbers ending in 0 and 9 are not allowed to travel around the metropolis on Fridays.
In its advisory, the MMDA said that as of 6:04 a.m., Araneta Avenue and Quezon Avenue in Quezon City were not passable.
The heavy rains are spawned by Tropical Storm “Mario” which continues to intensify as it moves toward northern Luzon, packing winds of 85 kilometers per hour near the center and gusts of up to 100 kph.
Meanwhile, light to moderate with occasional heavy rains affecting Bulacan, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Zambales, Bataan and Tarlac may persist within three hours.
Classes have been suspended by local government units in Metro Manila, Cavite and Laguna.
The Marikina government raised early Friday alert level three over Marikina River, prompting residents nearby to evacuate immediately.
The Marikina City Public Information Office said over Twitter that the river’s water level went up to 17.4 meters as of 6:09 a.m. with all floodgates open.
Alert level one is at least 15 meters above sea level; alert level two is at least 16 meters above sea level which calls for “preparedness;” level three is 17 meters above sea level and calls for “evacuation;” and the critical level or at least 18 meters above sea level calls for “forced evacuation.”
Marikina Mayor Del de Guzman also ordered class suspension in all levels in the city early Friday.
Some roads in Marikina, meanwhile, are not passable due to flooding, according to the Marikina Public Information Office.
The flooded roads include: G. Fernando Avenue and Agora Complex in Sumulong – Balanti (Katipunan Extension) and FVR road.
With reports by Julliane Love De Jesus
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