Heavier rainfall, changing patterns of tropical cyclones: ‘The reality now

This week, Metro Manila and large parts of Luzon found themselves submerged in water once again—roads impassable, schools closed, families displaced, and lives lost.

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The flooding, worsened by the lingering effects of the southwest monsoon and enhanced by a string of typhoons—Crising, Dante, and now Emong—has become a grim and familiar scene.

These calamities are not anymore isolated or temporary. As Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) Administrator Dr. Nathaniel Servando explained, climate change is causing global temperatures to rise, a trend that is also reflected in local temperature records. He explained that when the temperature of our oceans is high, it produces more water vapor, which fuels tropical cyclones to become more intense. “More water vapor means we will experience heavier rainfall when there is climate change or global warming,” Dr. Servando said.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is right to assert: “This is no longer unusual. This is the reality of our times,” he said, in calling for a shift in our mindset on disaster preparedness, to treat the country’s typhoon response system as “semi-permanent.”