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J O U RN A L OF E N V I RO N ME N TA L S CI EN CE S X X (2 0 1 7 ) XX X–XXX

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1Q3 Street floods in Metro Manila and possible solutions

Alfredo Mahar Lagmay1,2,⁎, Jerico Mendoza2 , Fatima Cipriano2 , Patricia Anne Delmendo2 ,

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3 Micah Nieves Lacsamana2 , Marc Anthony Moises2 , Nicanor Pellejera III 2 ,

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4 Kenneth Niño Punay2 , Glenn Sabio2 , Laurize Santos2 , Jonathan Serrano2 ,
5 Herbert James Taniza2 , Neil Eneri Tingin2

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6 1. National Institute of Geological Sciences, University of the Philippines, Quezon City 1101, Philippines
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2. Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards Phil-LiDAR 1 Flood Modelling Component, UP NIGS, Quezon City 1101, Philippines
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10 AR TIC LE I NFO ABSTR ACT

12 Article history: Urban floods from thunderstorms cause severe problems in Metro Manila due to road 17
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13 Received 14 December 2016 traffic. Using Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR)-derived topography, flood simulations 18
14 Revised 1 February 2017 and anecdotal reports, the root of surface flood problems in Metro Manila is identified. 19
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15 Accepted 6 March 2017 Majority of flood-prone areas are along the intersection of creeks and streets located in 20
16 Available online xxxx topographic lows. When creeks overflow or when rapidly accumulated street flood does not 21
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drain fast enough to the nearest stream channel, the intersecting road also gets flooded. 22
29 Keywords: Possible solutions include the elevation of roads or construction of well-designed drainage 23
30
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Flood modeling structures leading to the creeks. Proposed solutions to the flood problem of Metro Manila may 24
31 LiDAR avoid paralyzing traffic problems due to short-lived rain events, which according to Japan 25
32 Urban flooding International Cooperation Agency (JICA) cost the Philippine economy 2.4 billion pesos/day. 26 Q5
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33 © 2017 The Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences. 27
Published by Elsevier B.V. 28
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38 Introduction thunderstorms are also a problem. Once parts of the road 55
network are blocked by floods, traffic develops and paralyzes the 56
40 Metro Manila is located on an isthmus between the Manila entire city. According to JICA, traffic jams due to thunderstorm- 57
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41 Bay and Laguna de Bay. The entire region is composed of one related flashfloods costs PhP 2.4 billion a day from wasted 58
42 major catchment called the Marikina River Basin, which gasoline and lost economic productivity (Rodis, 2014). 59
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43 covers 535 km2, and eight smaller, river sub-basins, which Flashfloods are traditionally blamed on the loss of infiltra- 60
44 cover 683 km2 that drain directly into Manila Bay and Laguna tion due to urban concrete, a century-old drainage system, 61
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45 de Bay. The Marikina, Pasig, San Juan and Tullahan rivers and clogged streams. This study analyses nuisance floods 62
46 serve as the main outlets for a network of tributaries of the caused by brief, heavy downpours. It identifies other factors to 63
47 Marikina River Basin and smaller catchments of Metro Manila find relatively inexpensive solutions to flood-generated traffic 64
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48 (Fig. 1). Highly urbanized and populated by almost 12 million problems. 65

49 residents (Cox, 2011), the metropolis lies on one of the widest
50 floodplains in the Philippines.
51 Apart from devastating floods like those spawned by Tropical 1. Methods 67
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52 Storm Ondoy in 2009 (Lagmay et al., 2010) and the typhoon-
53 enhanced southwest monsoon rains in 2012, 2013 (Lagmay et al., The Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) released 68
54 2014) and 2014, more frequent floods caused by short-lived a list of flood-prone areas in the National Capital Region 69

⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail: amfal2@yahoo.com (Alfredo Mahar Lagmay).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jes.2017.03.004
1001-0742/© 2017 The Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Please cite this article as: Lagmay, A.M., et al., Street floods in Metro Manila and possible solutions, J. Environ. Sci. (2017), http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jes.2017.03.004
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Fig. 1 – Metro Manila natural drainage A) location of Metro Manila, B) administrative boundaries of component cities and
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C) watersheds and tributaries.

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70 (Table 1), verified by accounts collected from photographs Table 1 – Metro Manila Development Authority list of t1:1
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71 posted in social media. flood-prone places in Metro Manila. t1:2

t1:3
72 Crowd-sourced data (Fig. 2a) were overlaid on a 100-year Street name City t1:4
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Q6 rain return flood-hazard map (Fig. 2b, NOAH, 2013).
1. Espana–Antipolo–Maceda Manila t1:5
74 LiDAR-derived topography was used to create profiles of the 2. P. Burgos (City Hall) Manila t1:6
75 main roads in these areas, as well as profiles of the road sides. A 3. R. Papa, Rizal Avenue Manila t1:7
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76 Roces Street and CP Garcia Avenue in the University of the 4. Buendia Extension–Macapagal Avenue Manila t1:8
77 Philippines (UP) were also examined. Field work was also 5. Buendia–South Superhighway (northbound) Manila t1:9
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78 conducted to check the drainage crossing the streets in those 6. Buendia–South Superhighway (southbound) Manila t1:10
79 areas. 7. Osmeña–Skyway (northbound) Makati Q1
t1:11
8. Makati Makati Q2
t1:12
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Floods were simulated in FLO-2D GDS PRO using the St. Venant
9. Don Bosco Makati t1:13
81 equations for continuity and momentum (Eqs. (1) and (2)) and 10. EDSA Pasong Tamo, Magallanes Makati t1:14
82 the finite-difference scheme to compute flood velocities: 11. West Service Road, Merville Paranaque t1:15
12. East Service Road–Sales street Muntinlupa t1:16
∂ðVhÞ ∂ðhÞ t1:17
þ ¼i ð1Þ 13. McKinley Road Taguig
∂ðxÞ ∂ðtÞ 14. C-5 Bayani Road Taguig t1:18
84
83 15. C-5–BCDA Taguig t1:19
V 1 16. C-5 Bagong Ilog Pasig t1:20
∂ðVÞ ∂ðVÞ
∂ðhÞ g g 17. EDSA–SM Megamall Mandaluyong t1:21
S ¼ S− − − ¼0 ð2Þ
∂ðxÞ ∂ðxÞ ∂ðtÞ 18. EDSA–Camp Aguinaldo Gate 3 Quezon t1:22
19. Quezon Ave.–Victory Ave./Biak na Bato Quezon t1:23
86
85 where V is the average velocity in m/s, h is the flow depth in
20. NLEX–Balintawak Cloverleaf Quezon t1:24
87 meters, and i is the excess rainfall intensity in mm/24 hr. Other 21. North Avenue fronting Trinoma Mall Quezon t1:25
88 variables are slope (S), acceleration due to gravity (g), pressure 22. EDSA–North Avenue Quezon t1:26
89 gradient ∂ðhÞ ∂ðVÞ ∂ðVÞ
∂ðxÞ , and the local ð ∂ðtÞ Þ and convective ðV ∂ðtÞ Þ
23. Philcoa area Quezon t1:27

Please cite this article as: Lagmay, A.M., et al., Street floods in Metro Manila and possible solutions, J. Environ. Sci. (2017), http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jes.2017.03.004
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Fig. 2 – Flood-prone areas a) plotted by netizens, and b) overlain on a flood map.
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90 accelerations. These are solved using the finite-difference Five sites have bridges (Appendix): Philcoa, R. Papa, C-5 122
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91 scheme to get the velocity across the boundaries in eight Bagong Ilog, Osmeña–Skyway, and Don Bosco. The street at 123
92 potential flow directions of every grid element. Philcoa stands 3.8 m above the creek bottom with a rectangular, 124
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93 The simulations used 1 × 1 m LiDAR-derived elevation 2.37 × 4.4-m culvert perpendicular to the road and two circular, 125
94 data. The floodplains were delineated into catchment areas 1 m-diameter culverts parallel to the road. R. Papa is 1.38 m 126
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95 based on the flow direction and accumulation. Manning's above the creek bottom. In C-5 Bagong Ilog, the street is 127
96 coefficient of 0.03 was assigned to streams, which is the 3.92 m above the stream bottom. Along Osmeña–Skyway is a 128
97
Q7 normal value for main channels (Chow, 1959), and 0.15 to the 22.3-m bridge 3.34 m below street level. A stream with its bed 129
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98
Q8 floodplains which are predominantly concrete (Harley, 1975). 4.5 m below South Luzon Expressway in the Don Bosco area is 130
99 Inflow and outflow nodes were assigned based on where the drained by a parallel 4 × 2.5-m drainage structure. Eight places 131
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100 water flows in from the upper watershed and out through the do not seem to have drainage networks, which could be masked 132
101 main stream channel. by overlying concrete. 133
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102 Rainfall is simulated as a non-point source carrying water

103 throughout the model. Once flood-prone areas were identified 2.2. Roads in UP Diliman 134
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104 from the 100-year flood-hazard map, higher-resolution simu-

105 lations in sub-basins of concern were conducted for short- Both UP creeks are headwaters of a drainage network. A Roces 135
106 lived thunderstorms. An hour of rainfall with intensities of 30– is 4 m and CP Garcia is 1.25 m above the banks (Fig. 3). In CP 136
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107 70 mm/hr was used to simulate thunderstorms. Observations, Garcia, there appears to be a bigger channel, where the road is 137
108 road profiles and flood simulations revealed the causes of street lower in elevation than the bank of the creek. While it is built 138
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109 flooding and indicated appropriate solutions. up above the lowest portion of the channel, it is still below 139
the main channel banks and remains susceptible to flooding 140
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(Fig. 3). The streets each have two 1 m-diameter culverts. 141
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110 2. Results A Roces is sufficiently elevated to avoid flooding even 142
when the creek swells, as during Typhoon Ketsana in 2009. 143
112 2.1. Intersection of creeks and streets In contrast, CP Garcia is flooded and impassable even during 144
short-lived torrential thunderstorms. Here, flood depths reached 145
113 The flood-prone areas list and flood-hazard maps show floods 1 m during Ketsana, and are around 0.9 m during brief 146
114 at intersections of streets and creeks, and at ponded areas thunderstorms. 147
115 such as Padre Burgos in Manila (Fig. 2). Road profiles reveal
116 that they follow topographic lows and are not significantly 2.3. Thunderstorm flash-flood scenarios 148
117 elevated from roadsides and creek banks (Appendix). R. Papa
118 is lower than the roadside and lies below the tops of three Floods during short-duration thunderstorms block traffic, as 149
119 stream segments. EDSA-North Avenue floods at its lowest exemplified by four sites in the MMDA list: Bayani Road, 150
120 portion, which follows the topography of a 250-m wide, 1-m Taguig City, Victory Avenue, Quezon Boulevard, R. Papa 151
121 high channel. Street, Manila, and EDSA–North Avenue (Fig. 4). 152

Please cite this article as: Lagmay, A.M., et al., Street floods in Metro Manila and possible solutions, J. Environ. Sci. (2017), http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jes.2017.03.004
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Fig. 3 – Profiles of a) A Roces Street and b) CP Garcia Avenue. Transect a–a′ is brown in the profile; transect b–b′ is green. c) A
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Roces and CP Garcia creek during d) summer and e) a short-lived thunderstorm.

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153 Bayani Road starts to flood knee-deep after 40 mm of rain, roads get flooded. Roads that follow topographic lows, even 177
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154 and floods are waist-high when rain delivers 70 mm. Victory if they are above the creek's bank, should have enough 178
155 Avenue starts to flood gutter-deep at 40 mm, knee-deep after clearance or freeboard to accommodate creek swelling 179
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156 60 mm, and tire-deep after 70 mm. R. Papa begins to flood (Fig. 5). Small streams may oftentimes be dry or nearly dry, 180
157 gutter-deep across three sections with 50 mm of rain and but they, too, can swell and overtop their banks (Fig. 4). Roads 181
158 reaches half-tire-deep with a 70 mm rain. EDSA–North Avenue above creeks, therefore, must be designed and constructed in 182
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159 begins to flood at 40 mm and reaches tire-level with intensities the same manner as roads that cross large rivers. 183
160 of 60 mm. Snapshots of simulations for the other 18 MMDA In the Philippines, flood-control design is governed by 184
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161 flood-prone areas are provided as supplementary files in the technical standards based on flood-frequency expressed by 185
162 Appendix. return periods which are based on the size of the catchment 186
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area, importance of the project area, and economic viability 187

(JICA, Japan International Cooperation Agency and DPWH, 188
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163 3. Discussion Department of Public Works and Highways, 2003). Ideally, 189
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discharge values are calculated through runoff analysis. When 190

165 Metro Manila floods are classified into those that endanger available, annual maximum-flood data are analyzed as a more 191
166 people, and those that merely cause traffic jams. Not all of convenient alternative. In the absence of these two data sets, 192
167 Metro Manila is flood-prone. Floods generate traffic jams only the return period is determined using rainfall data. A Rainfall 193
168 in specific areas and may be eliminated with relatively Intensity Duration Frequency (RIDF) curve is utilized in calcu- 194
169 low-cost solutions. lating discharge for catchment areas below 20 m2 using the 195
170 Many flood-prone areas are where streets and creeks Rational Formula Method (Kuichling, 1889; Viessman and 196
171 intersect; others are areas where water accumulates. The Lewis, 1995; Eq. (3)): 197
172 roads in UP campus present two contrasting scenarios: A
Q ¼ciA ð3Þ
173 Roces hardly ever floods whereas CP Garcia gets inundated
174 during severe weather as well as short-lived thunderstorms where Q is the discharge in cm, c is the runoff coefficient, i is 198
199
175 (Fig. 3). These show that the construction of roads relative to rainfall intensity in mm/hr and A the drainage area in square 200
176 the elevation of intersecting creeks affects whether or not the meter. 201

Please cite this article as: Lagmay, A.M., et al., Street floods in Metro Manila and possible solutions, J. Environ. Sci. (2017), http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jes.2017.03.004
 J O U RN A L OF E N V I RO N ME N TA L S CI EN CE S X X (2 0 1 7 ) XX X–XXX 5

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Fig. 4 – Inundation scenarios for short-lived thunderstorms. Flood depths are classified based on the MMDA flood gauge.
(Ankle ≤ 0.1 m, gutter ≤ 0.201 m, half-knee ≤ 0.255 m, half-tire ≤ 0.331 m, knee ≤ 0.484 m, tires ≤ 0.661 m, waist ≤ 0.941 m,
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chest ≤ 1.144 m).

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202 Culverts and lateral drains, understandably, are not The theoretical discharge of the creek intersecting the road 205
203 designed for unusually big floods. Short-lived thunderstorms in Philcoa was computed using the Rational Method (Eq. (3)). 206
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204 (i.e. >/30 mm/hr), however, flood the streets as well. Philcoa is one of the places in the MMDA list of flood-prone 207
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Fig. 5 – Cartoon of inundation of a road with a design that follows the topography as it crosses the creek and where the road is
elevated relative to the creek banks. Blue circles are culverts.

Please cite this article as: Lagmay, A.M., et al., Street floods in Metro Manila and possible solutions, J. Environ. Sci. (2017), http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jes.2017.03.004
 6 J O U RN A L OF E N V I RO N ME N TA L S CIE N CE S X X (2 0 1 7 ) XXX –XXX

208 areas. The calculations for 1 hr of rain with intensity of a 1 m × 1 m drain connects directly with the creek, mimicking 237
209 70 mm/hr yielded a value of 29.95 cm. This is still below the the unexposed lateral drainage. 238
210 87 m3/sec discharge capacity of the culvert obtained with In the model, even if the culvert can handle the discharge 239
211 Manning's equation (Gauckler, 1867; Manning, 1891; Chanson, of surface flow from heavy downpour, knee-high flooding still 240
212 2004) (Eq. (4)): occurs for 24–30 min, then subsides until it ends after another 241

 30 min. Flow into the topographic low is faster than into the 242
1 23 12
Q ¼A R S ð4Þ creek. Inasmuch as the creek never fills during short-lived 243
n
thunderstorms even when the culvert is partially clogged 244
214
213 where A is its inner cross-sectional area in square meter, n is with garbage, the problem is really not the culvert, but the 245
215 the Manning's coefficient, R is the hydraulic radius in m, and S impervious low-lying road. 246
216 is the stream bed slope obtained through LiDAR topography. A Roces Ave. in UP Diliman, provides a possible solution: a 247
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217 Concrete box culverts have a Manning's n of 0.012–0.015. The hydraulic structure under the street large enough to accommo- 248

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218 latter was used for a more conservative computation. date the volume of water, which is equivalent to the area 249
219 Despite the capacity of the culvert, field interviews revealed covered by the flood multiplied by the height of inundation, 250

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220 that street floods happen even during brief thunderstorms. The which for Philcoa is only knee-high. The street surface must 251
221 culvert filled only during Typhoon Ketsana, showing that other have steel mesh drains to accommodate the runoff that 252

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222 factors play important roles in generating thunderstorm- accumulates almost instantaneously in the topographic low. 253
223 related floods. Ideally, the subsurface water retention area should drive flow 254
224 One and a half hour simulations using 70 mm/hr rainfall into the creek. Constructing it below the street, if structurally 255

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225 were conducted to determine those factors. The rain was feasible, avoids right-of-way problems. 256
226 distributed over the first 60 min of the simulation. Flooding The proposed solution is simulated. Since the Flo-2D model 257

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227 begins at 33 min and peaks at 39 min, then slowly decreases cannot simulate flow below the street, an alternative model was 258
228 and drains fully at 90 min. Peak discharge at the culvert inlet generated. A DEM with open strips paralleling the street and 259
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229 happens at 57 min when the flood along the road has already sloping towards the creek was used to simulate subsurface flow.
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230 started to wane, much later than the street flood (Fig. 6). The simulation result shows that all the flood water was 261
231 The hydrograph (Fig. 7) reaches its low after peak flow at confined in the strips, which means that the road will not flood 262
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232 1 hr and 20 min then rises again. Water draining into the (Fig. 8). This model can be used to determine the appropriate 263
233 culvert causes the initial rise; the succeeding rise is caused by surface infiltration of the street, and the depth and slope of the 264
234 265
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flow from farther reaches of the watershed. subsurface drain needed.

235 The absence of information regarding subsurface drainage Although only one example of discharge analysis was 266
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236 in Philcoa was addressed through field work. In the simulation, presented, the findings could be applied to other places in 267
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Fig. 6 – Simulation of flood at Philcoa showing the start of flooding along the road at 33 min, peak flooding along the road at
39 min, peak discharge at the culvert's inlet at 57 min, and full flood subsidence along the road at 90 min.

Please cite this article as: Lagmay, A.M., et al., Street floods in Metro Manila and possible solutions, J. Environ. Sci. (2017), http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jes.2017.03.004
 J O U RN A L OF E N V I RO N ME N TA L S CI EN CE S X X (2 0 1 7 ) XX X–XXX 7

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Fig. 7 – Hyetograph and runoff hydrograph for the simulation. Peak rainfall occurred at 30 min. Peak discharge occurred at
57 min. and reached a low point 1 hr before beginning to rise again.
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268 Metro Manila. They can be used for other creek and street Manila and at EDSA Pasong Tamo, retention basins can also 271
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269 intersections with culverts (e.g. Don Bosco) since they have be made under the street and pumped out after the 272
270 similar geometry. For ponded areas like in Padre Burgos in thunderstorm. However, at EDSA Pasong Tamo, this type of 273
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Fig. 8 – Simulation result for the proposed solution for urban floods caused by short-lived but intense thunderstorms. The
image shows all the flood water confined in the excavated strips with no flood on the road. Excavated strips as well as the
creek culvert are underground, which means that the road surface is also not flooded.

Please cite this article as: Lagmay, A.M., et al., Street floods in Metro Manila and possible solutions, J. Environ. Sci. (2017), http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jes.2017.03.004
 8 J O U RN A L OF E N V I RO N ME N TA L S CIE N CE S X X (2 0 1 7 ) XXX –XXX

274 intervention may be difficult as there is an overpass in the rainfall. The retention basin must also be designed to directly 332
275 area. High volume pumps are necessary to transfer floodwa- drain into the nearest stream channel. The latter solution or its 333
276 ters from this area into an adjacent retention basin. equivalent may not completely address big floods spawned by 334
severe weather events but may solve frequent street floods 335
from short-lived thunderstorms. These proposed solutions may 336
278
277 4. Conclusions avert increased gas consumption and lost potential income 337
from traffic jams during floods, which costs the Philippine 338
279 Metro Manila's floods are compounded by many factors economy 2.4 billion pesos a day, a figure that may balloon to 339
280 including encroachment of concrete surfaces, densification of 6 zbillion a day by the year 2030. 340
281 buildings and residential areas, silting of riverbeds and canals,
282 obstruction of waterways by informal settlers, clogging of
283 floodways by garbage, narrowing of rivers due to development Uncited references 342
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341

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284 on floodplains, draining and filling in of small rivers forcing
285 more water into fewer channels, forest degradation, and Kintanar, 1984 343

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286 reclamation of coastal land. Furthermore, humans have altered PAGASA (Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and 344
287 the landscape in the metropolis which has grown rapidly but Astronomical Services), 2009 345

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288 with poorly planned urbanization. Since the 1970's, people have Zoleta-Nantes, 2000 346
289 migrated from rural areas to Metro Manila increasing the
290 population from 4.9 million residents in 1975 to more than

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291 11 million today. A survey by the National Housing Authority
Acknowledgments 348
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292 showed that by the early 1980s, a quarter of Metro Manila

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293 residents were informal settlers living in crowded shantytowns This is to acknowledge the Philippine Council for Industry, 349
294 many along waterways. Further complicating the problem is Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development 350
295 ground subsidence. From 1978 to 2000, parts of Metro Manila (PCIEERD). Department of Science and Technology (DOST) for 351
296 sank by an amount ranging from 16 cm to 1.46 m. The probable
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funding the Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards 352
297 causes of subsidence are excessive groundwater extraction, soil (NOAH) program, particularly the DREAM Flood Modelling 353
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298 compaction and tectonic movement, though more research is Component Project. 354
299 needed to fully determine the primary causes (Lagmay et al.,
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2010).
301 Floods in the metropolis can be life threatening or a nuisance
Appendix A. Supplementary data 356
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302 because of the traffic they generate. Traffic problems related to

303 urban surface floods from short-lived rain events can cost the
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at 357
304 Philippine economy P2.4 billion pesos a day. This study
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jes.2017.03.004. 358
305 identified the root causes of street floods from both severe
306 weather events and brief but heavy downpour from thunder-
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307 storms using 2D flood simulations. Street floods in Metro

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dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jes.2017.03.004
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Please cite this article as: Lagmay, A.M., et al., Street floods in Metro Manila and possible solutions, J. Environ. Sci. (2017), http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jes.2017.03.004