Chapter 9

Natural hazards, Mitigation and Adaptation:

Hydro meteorological Phenomenon and
hazards
 Yolanda, Pablo,Pepeng, Pedring, Juan, Frank And Ondoy, names of the
most destructible and deadliest typhoons that ever hit our country. Have
you ever wondered why we are always hit by strong typhoons and why
floods are common sight all over the country especially when habagat
sets in?

The term “hydro meteorological phenomena” refers to a wide variety of

meteorological, hydrological, and climate phenomena in nature (UNISDR,
1997) ( United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction). They pose
hazard that cause deaths, damage to properties, socioeconomic
destruction and environmental degradation. Tropical cyclones or
typhoons, coastal storm surges, thunderstorms, floods including
flashfloods, drought, and heat waves are examples of hydro
meteorological hazards.
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 Most hydro meteorological phenomena are just confined in
one country. They affect several countries in the region and
sometimes even the whole planet. Their impacts are either
regional or global. There is no country on earth that is
immune to their destructive effects. Countries cannot
isolate themselves. It is for these reasons that countries are
actively collaborating to find long-term solution due to
climate change.

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 rain causes hypothermia and respiratory tract
infections. Mostly affected are the poor especially those
that live in slum areas and crowded dwellings.
Secondary concerns are loss of crops and livestock and
droning of people.

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 Winter monsoon causes death due to direct exposure to
extreme cold. Vulnerable are the elderly children, and
individuals with weak immune system and the sick. The
homeless are prone to cold weather-related illnesses.
Cases of deaths due to flu and pneumonia also increase
during the season.

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 Winter monsoon causes death due to direct exposure to
extreme cold. Vulnerable are the elderly children, and
individuals with weak immune system and the sick. The
homeless are prone to cold weather-related illnesses.
Cases of deaths due to flu and pneumonia also increase
during the season.

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 Hazards Due to Tropical Cyclones
 tropical cyclone is a rotating, organized system of clouds and
thunderstorms that originate over warm tropical or subtropical
waters and have a closed low-level circulation.
 rotate counter clockwise or cyclonic in the northern hemisphere
and clockwise or anti cyclonic in the southern hemisphere
because of the Coriolis effect.
 derive their energy from the warm tropical oceans and do not
form unless sea-surface temperature is above 26.5 C at a
depth of at least 50m (Bureau of Meteorology, Australia,
2016).
 classified either as tropical depression, tropical storm or
hurricanes depending on their maximum sustained wind is
7 38mph.
 They are considered as tropical storm if their maximum
sustained wind is from 39 to 73 mph and classified
hurricane, and cyclone are maximum sustained wind
reaches 74 mph. the terms typhoon, hurricane, and cyclone
are the same weather phenomenon. If the tropical cyclone
comes from the North Atlantic and Northeast Pacific, it is
called typhoon and when it develops in the South pacific
and Indian Ocean, it is called a cyclone. The World
Meteorological Organization defined hurricanes, cyclones
and typhoons as tropical cyclones with maximum sustains
wind speed exceeding 119 km/h near their centers without
specifying their point of origin.
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 The map shows the ‘birthplace’ of tropical cyclones on
earth.
1.North Atlantic
2.Northeast Pacific
3.Southwest pacific
4.South Pacific
5.Indian Ocean

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 Almost all tropical cyclones develop from the Northwest
Pacific Ocean, directly hitting the Philippines.
Meteorologists predict that they will further increase in
number and are stronger (UNEP-GRID Europe) due to
climate change. Our location makes our country prone to
destruction and devastating due to typhoons.

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 Tropical cyclones are dangerous because they generate
destructive winds and heavy rainfall, and amplify storm
surges that can cause flooding of low-lying coastal areas.
The extent of damage due to storm surges depends on the
steepness of the coastline. An almost flat coastline
receives considerable damage than elevated coastline.

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 Hazards Due to Tropical Cyclone
1.Storm surge
The term storm surge is frequently associated with tropical
storm Haiyan, locally known as Typhoon Yolanda, that
devastated Tacloban City and nearby provinces in Eastern
Visayas. Before Typhoon Yolanda, storm surge was
unknown to most Filipinos.

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 Storm surge is described as an abnormal rise of water
generated by a storm, over and above the predicted
astronomical tides (National hurricane Center).
Astronomical tide is the typical or normal height of the
tides due to atmospheric influences like strong wind due to
atmospheric influences like strong wind due to tropical
cyclone. The rise in water level can cause extreme flooding
in coastal areas particularly when storm surge coincides
with normal high tide, resulting in storm tides reaching up
to 20 feet or more in some cases. Approximately, 90% of
deaths from tropical cyclones are due to storm surges.

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 Storm surge is described as an abnormal rise of water
generated by a storm, over and above the predicted
astronomical tides (National hurricane Center).
Astronomical tide is the typical or normal height of the
tides due to atmospheric influences like strong wind due to
atmospheric influences like strong wind due to tropical
cyclone. The rise in water level can cause extreme flooding
in coastal areas particularly when storm surge coincides
with normal high tide, resulting in storm tides reaching up
to 20 feet or more in some cases. Approximately, 90% of
deaths from tropical cyclones are due to storm surges.

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 wind- driven waves are superimposed on the storm tide.
This rise in water level can cause severe flooding in coastal
areas, particularly when the storm tide coincides with the
normal high tides. The level of surge in particular area is
also determined by the slope of continental shelf. A
shallow slope off the coast will allow a greater surge to
flood coastal communities. Communities with a steeper
continental shelf will not see as much surge inundation,
although large breaking waves can still present major
problems.

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 Tropical cyclone’s destructive power is due to the
combined effects of strong wind and torrential rain. A
tropical cyclone’s wind damages and destroys structures in
two ways. First, many homes are damaged or destroyed
when the high wind lifts the roof. Once lifted, the roof acts
as a sail and is blown away. With the roof gone, the walls
are much easier to be blown down by the wind. The wind
picks up the debris (i.e. wood, metal siding, toys, trash
cans, tree branches, etc.) and sends them hurling at high
speed into other structures.

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 2. Flash flooding
Annually, an estimated 5,000 deaths worldwide is reported due
to flash floods, considered as one of the deadliest natural
disasters, according to the world Meteorological Organization
(WMO). Flashfloods happen around the world. Flashfloods occur
at a short notice and the destruction is considerably huge. Unlike
typical flood, it cannot be monitored remotely. Although heavy
rainfall triggered by another weather system causes flashfloods,
other factors can also contribute to the problem. For example, the
presence of mining operation increases the possibility of flash
flood in the area. The likelihood of flashflood is high if the soil
lacks ground cover or vegetation and the area is prone to soil
erosion. Human activities such as slash and burn farming and
land development add to the problem. Flashfloods trigger
landslides, mudslide, including lahar flow. The resulting cataclysm
has the potential to wipe out an entire village or erase a town
from the map. Melt water from ice or snow flowing over sheets or
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snowfield also causes flash flood.
 3. Flooding in Urban Areas
Residents in Metro manila always associate September 26, 2009
with tropical storm Ondoy (International name: Ketsana). Ondoy
submerged almost the entire Metro Manila and several parts of
Luzon, an epic flood of overwhelming proportion resulting in Php
11 billion damage to properties and almost 500 deaths. It
dumped 455mm or 17.9 inches of rain in less than 24 hours. It
affected five million people or one million families. Tropical storm
Ondoy is not actually a strong typhoon; in fact, it is only Category
2 typhoon in the Saffir-Simpson scale. Southwest monsoon
intensified Ondoy causing heavy rainfall

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 Flash flooding in highly urbanized areas like Metro Manila
severely disrupts the normal flow of life. Primarily, it affects the
delivery of goods and basic services. Trading, commerce,
schooling and other activities are disrupted and suspended. The
possibility of an epidemic due to water-borne diseases is very
high. Sometimes, food, fruits, vegetables, and other agricultural
products from neighboring provinces cannot enter the metropolis.
The resulting supply and demand imbalance causes food prices
to increase for days up to two weeks; however, once supply is
restored, prices may return to normal level.

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 Hazards Due to Tornadoes
Tornadoes (ipo-ipo) is a narrow, violently rotating
column of air that extends from the base of a thunderstorm to the
ground. Typically, it is characterized by its condensation funnel
which is actually composed of water droplets, dust, and debris
The illustrations below show how tornado is formed.
1.Like all winds and storms, tornadoes begin when the sun heats
up the surface of the land. As the warm, less heavy air begins to
rise, it meets the colder, heavier air above it. Note that wind
shears make it even easier to set them off. A wind shear is when
two winds at different levels and speeds above the ground blow
together in a location.
2.The faster moving air begins to spin and roll over the slower
wind. As it rolls on, it gathers pace and grow in size.
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 3.At this stage, it is an invisible, horizontal wind spinning and
rolling like a cylinder. As the winds continue to build up, stronger
and more powerful warm air forces the spinning winds vertically
upward, causing an updraft.
4.With more warm air rising, the spinning air encounters more
updraft. The winds spin faster, vertically upwards, and gains
more momentum.
5.At this stage, the spinning wind creates a vortex and the wind
has enough energy to fuel itself.
6.The tornado is fully formed now and moving in the direction of
the thunderstorm winds. When the pointed part of the tornado
touches the ground from the cloud, it is often referred to as ‘touch
down’ and as it moves, it rips off things along its path.

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 Tornadoes are sometimes called twisters because they moves as
if they are being twisted. They are very destructive. Tornadoes
are capable of lifting heavy objects and hurl them several meters
away, rip off buildings and houses, and uproot trees. They
destroy everything along their path resulting in enormous
damage to properties. Tornado is locally known as ipo-ipo. On
the average there are 12 to 24 tornadoes that hit the different
parts of the country particularly in the flat terrains of Mindanao
and Central Luzon. On the June 17,2013 , a tornado struck the
town of Minglanilla and Talisay in Cebu. It destroyed 55 houses.
Tornado can happen during summer of rainy season.

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 Destruction caused by tornadoes is unimaginable. They totally
destroy an entire town as shown in the before and after
photographs below. The houses directly along the path of the
tornado were completely destroyed.

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 Hazards Due to Monsoons
Monsoon is wind that reverses its direction with the season,
blowing more or less steadily from the interior of continent
toward the sea in winter, and in the opposite direction during
summer. The following illustrations show the two wind systems
that control the climate in Southeast Asia. The left frame shows
the winter monsoon (northeast monsoon) while the right frame
shows the southeast monsoon. Observe that wind moves from
high pressure region to low pressure region.

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 Monsoons are most often associated with the Indian Ocean.
Monsoons always blow from cold to warm regions. The summer
monsoon or the southwest monsoon and the winter monsoon or
northeast monsoon determine the climate for most of Indian and
Southeast Asia.

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 Summer monsoon is locally referred to as hanging habagat while
winter monsoon is called hanging amihan. These two wind
systems influence almost all aspects of life of the Filipinos. They
inspire and influence festivities and cultural events in the country.
For instance, the onset of summer monsoon marks the planting
season in Southeast Asia. In the Philippines, farmer start to plow
their fields in preparation for planting as the rice field is inundated
with rainwater.

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 Winter monsoon, dominated by trade winds, brings cooler air
from Siberia and the Himalayas. It starts from middle of October
or November and ends in February or early march. It is
characterized by a drop in temperature especially at higher
elevation and is associated with the onset of Christmas season.
On the other hand, summer monsoon provides relief from the
extreme heat of summer. It typically starts in June and ends in
early October. It is characterized by moderate to heavy rainfall in
different parts of the country. The Philippine Atmospheric,
Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration
(PAGASA) officially declares the start of both southwest
monsoon and northeast monsoon.

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 Southeast monsoon causes flooding in most cities in Southeast
Asia. In the countryside, flooding destroys crops especially palay,
corn and vegetables, and this affects rice production and food
supply of food. Flooding brought by strong monsoon rain causes
water and food-borne diseases like cholera, typhoid, Hepatitis A,
diarrhea, dysentery.

Flooding also triggers vector-borne diseases such as malaria, and

dengue/dengue hemorrhagic fever, while direct contact with
contaminated water leads to dermatitis, conjunctivitis, ear, nose
and throat infections, wound infections, and leptospirosis. Direct
expose.
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