Year on year, the Philippines gets its huge share of Typhoons bringing with it strong winds and rains. Unfortunately for cities that has poor civil planning and too much congestion and pollution, it also means floods. For years I have witnessed both government officials and media alike report flooding in the streets based on estimated heights and basically a description of how the flood is, relative to a person or a stationary object that is currently submerged in that area.
We were forced to accept reports based on “knee-deep”, “waist-deep”, “tire-deep” or “chest-deep” flood waters. And in extreme cases get reports that the flood waters would submerge a “typical filipino person” which is not really accurate given that we do have height measurements in place.
The City of Mandaluyong has come up with a flood alert scheme based on codes and height level but I do not think that there is a way for their City officials to determine the actual height of the flood waters unless they have someone do measurements on the flooded area at the time of the report.
I was just wondering if it would be possible (well at least to start with Metro Manila) for the local government, Metro Manila Development Authority or Meralco / PLDT to coordinate and have street posts painted with color coded markers that would indicate an actual height measurement based on ground level. Having these markers in place relative to the floods would give an accurate measurement of how deep the flood waters are and it could also give an indication or clear warning to those planning to pass the roads.
A common mistake of motorists and pedestrians alike during floods would be the wrong estimation of how deep the flood waters are. Motorists are only swayed to stop passing these roads when they get to see a vehicle stalled because the water is too deep. Similarly we hear of accidents of pedestrians drowning while crossing flood waters. Besides possible under currents it is possible that they basically under estimate how deep the flood waters are.
If the metro gets to implement this simple scheme, which I believe is also used by other countries to measure snow fall, it would be an easy indicator for everyone. It would server as both warning and reminder that we do have a flood problem and acknowledging it is a good first step.
Photo Credits: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/639380/mandaluyong-folk-brave-nearly-neck-deep-floods
http://www.pinoyexchange.com/forums/showthread.php?t=513970&page=14
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