ABOUT 35,000 barrels of rain fell on Metro Cebu last Thursday night.
The rain volume is the highest since January, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) reported.
Al Quiblat, officer-in-charge of the Pagasa Mactan Station, said that 75.2 millimeters (mm) of rain fell for about 40 minutes from 10:22 p.m. last Thursday.
It is equivalent to 35,000 barrels of water falling on an area of one square kilometer, Quiblat told a disaster risk reduction and management conference yesterday at the Capitol.
The figure is also 40 percent of the monthly average rainfall for June, which is 183 mm, according to Pagasa.
Quiblat said last Thursday’s rain was torrential.
It caused floods in several areas in Metro Cebu.
The rainy season began this month, but Quiblat said that the weak El Niño experienced in Cebu in April and May will strengthen near the end of the year.
The weak El Niño caused a drought in May, where the actual rainfall of 18 millimeters was only 82 percent of the monthly average of 100.3 mm.
This month, Pagasa expects light to moderate and occasional heavy rainfall with thunderstorms in the afternoon and evening in the next four or five days.
Quiblat said, though, that there would be breaks in the rain event, or several days without rain, due to climate change.
As of yesterday morning, Pagasa recorded 194 mm of rain, past the monthly average. Pagasa considers the figure as normal for June.
During the conference, Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officer Baltazar Tribunalo Jr. said that the weak El Niño caused P211 million in losses.
Twenty-six local government units submitted their reports, which mentioned the loss of P58 million in agriculture products and P12 million in livestock.
Tribunalo said that although people are now more aware, disaster preparedness can only be measured during an actual disaster.