Hard Hit By The Rain!

[Gary D]

5 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

That area probably got it good.  Did you see the video of SCTEX in that area?  Your family is probably safe as I have not heard of any serious casualties.  Drinking water is also a problem as many wells are flooded and not safe.

Here is another video:

 

That looks as though it was filmed just across the rice lands from our place.

[OnMyWay]

2 minutes ago, Gary D said:

That looks as though it was filmed just across the rice lands from our place.

I think I know that area well.  When I go back and forth to Angeles, I sometimes go back to Subic right around sunset, and I have always wanted to get a good photo of the sunset reflecting on the rice ponds.  I have never gotten the timing right yet.  The water got very deep to get up and over SCTEX there, although it is a low point on SCTEX.

[PakWaan]

Looks like I picked a bad time to consider moving to Subic!

[Dave Hounddriver]

10 minutes ago, PakWaan said:

Looks like I picked a bad time to consider moving to Subic!

Not if you own a boat 

[OnMyWay]

3 hours ago, PakWaan said:

Looks like I picked a bad time to consider moving to Subic!

Not really.  I think Olongapo used to flood a lot more.  They had the same flood in 2013 (Santa Rita river goes over it's banks) and they have been improving the riverbeds and canals since then.  Dredging, building walls, etc.  The work is still ongoing and probably will not be done for years, but at least they are improving.

They recover quickly.  In 2013 I drove downtown the next day and you could barely tell that anything happened.  The people in the flood prone business areas are quick and smart about getting their goods out of harms way, as long as the water doesn't get too deep.  Everything is built out of concrete so that tolerates flooding well.  The poorer low lying residential areas are another story.  Santa Rita area is one.  People can afford to will not live in those areas due to the flood risk, but poor people have no choice.  They also are good at managing, and many move everything to 2nd floor, but the area is a total mess afterwards and takes much longer to get back to normal.

If you live in the Freeport, there is only minor street flooding.  The 2-3 deep water at the one entrance of our Kalayaan community is the one exception.  If you have a 4X4 with good height, you can go through.  Others try.  Some make it, some not!  Up on our hill, the drainage was all designed by our U.S. Navy and can handle a lot of rain coming down the hill.  It pools at the bottom by that entrance, thus the problem there.

I will accept a few months of monsoon rain every year in exchange for the peaceful living I have in Kalayaan!  Add by edit:  Also, this side of Luzon is fairly protected from major typhoon winds.  The typhoons, even if not in this area, often suck the monsoon over us, causing the rain issues.

I might go into Olongapo later and if possible, take some pics.

Edited July 24, 2018 by OnMyWay

[OnMyWay]

On 7/23/2018 at 11:05 AM, OnMyWay said:

Olongapo City downtown yesterday!

 

Went downtown today.  Here is a picture of City Hall today, same area as the video above, but a different angle.  I saw a news video of them cleaning up with power washers and fire truck hoses, but other areas are not quite so clean yet.

City market area and just west where it was also flooded.  Business as usual today.  Lots of dirt and some mud around.

 

We are a bit ticked off because our Freeport schools are cancelled again tomorrow, for the 3rd day in a row.  For some reason, they fall under the Olongapo mayor's jurisdiction for school closures.  He may have reasons for staying shut in Olongapo because some schools were flooded, but all the schools in the Freeport are unharmed and should be open.  We went to SM Olongapo this evening, and it was jam packed with people, so it is not like the Freeport school staffs are so hard hit they can't come to work.

 

[robert k]

On 7/23/2018 at 8:30 AM, Queenie O. said:

That's too bad OMW about all that monsoon rain. I've seen the awful flooding in Manila and surrounds lately too. Is it true that in Luzon in general it gets pretty rainy most of the rainy season?  Not easy for business and property damage, and just plain getting around.  Last year in Cebu, we had a long rainy season, with rain most days. Generally here though, it's sunny with a cloudburst every few days, but then followed by sun.

Queeny, I'm near Naga CamSur on Luzon and while we get rain, not evidently like OMW is experiencing. No flooding here as far as I can tell.

[OnMyWay]

It has been almost one month since I originally made this post.  The rain has slowed down a bit this last week, but still a lot of rain.  And now there are two more typhoons up north that are supposed to suck more monsoons over us for the next week.

My wife is sick of it to the point of wanting to look at other places to live, but I don't there is much out there, that I can afford, that would pull me away from my beloved Kalayaan neighborhood.  You don't find quiet places like this in the Philippines very often.

I understand how she feels.  It is like the winter blues (S.A.D.) you get in other parts of the world.  I got that to a certain extent in Germany and in Kentucky.  It doesn't bother me so much here as it is not cold.

What also pisses us off is that our private schools here in the Freeport follow the school closure instructions of the mayor in Olongapo City.  There have been many days when our schools should not have been closed, but were.

I put this chart together to show my wife that this year is exceptional.  Very exceptional.  Weather Underground has historical data, but only back to 2012 for our area.  We moved here in April 2013.  The numbers are inches.

So this year, we are already at 73.8 inches for the Jun-Sep season.  With 5-6 weeks to go, we will probably surpass 2012 by a good bit.  In 2012 they had some flooding in Olongapo City and in 2013 there was one small one in Sep.

[Jollygoodfellow]

28 minutes ago, OnMyWay said:

My wife is sick of it to the point of wanting to look at other places to live, but I don't there is much out there, that I can afford, that would pull me away from my beloved Kalayaan neighborhood.  You don't find quiet places like this in the Philippines very often.

Other than the odd shower every now and then there is no rain much here in Cebu city. 

[OnMyWay]

1 hour ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

Other than the odd shower every now and then there is no rain much here in Cebu city. 

I'm very spoiled by the driving and light traffic here in the freeport, so I don't think I could handle Cebu City traffic.  Xmas 2012 we looked at some expensive houses (that is all the agent showed us) there and ended up choosing Subic.  I found this video of the parking in Cebu City: