Causes Of Floods In Marikina

Marikina River:

Among the seventeen cities that make up Metro Manila, Marikina City has had a long history of flooding because of it delicate geographic area. Marikina is a highly urbanized area in NCR, sitting in the heart of a valley bounded on the eastern part , by Sierra Madre Mountains, San Mateo on the north, on the south by the Pasig City and municipality of Cainta, and hills of Quezon City to the west side of Metro Manila.

Most of the floods in the city’s low-lying areas are caused by the outflow from the slopes of the Sierra Madre mountain range that runs along the east of Marikina Valley. (Grünewald, et. Al) Flowing through the Midwest portion of the city is the Pasig-Marikina River Basin, has a total drainage area of 635 square

Typhoons are less common in the southern part. (Brown) Between 15 and 25 tropical cyclones or storms enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility each year, most frequently from July to November usually 6 to 9 make landfall. (Grunewald et. al) The country experiences an average of 19.6 typhoons a year in its area of responsibility between 1984- 2013, not the deadliest disasters but affected the highest number of people at around 5 billion which oftentimes with devastating consequences like deaths of hundreds and sometimes thousands of people. (Agence

History of Marikina Flooding

One of 17 cities and municipalities of NCR is the city of Marikina. Marikina city has witnessed some of the worst flooding in recent history and has the most destructive and shocking because of their long-term and repetitive effects, even though a comprehensive catalogue of historical flood information has not been established, flood risk is well acknowledged.

According to Gilbuena et. Al. Occurrence flood in the metro was first recorded as early as 1898 whereas the first flood event in Marikina was first documented in the 1970’s. According to "Country Water Action: Flood-Ready Marikina City", during the 1970s, the Marikina River starts to putrefy, it turn out to be dirty, decaying and unctuous instead of flowed. It turned out to be the authorized dumping area of Marikina's solid and liquid waste. Its tributary experienced the same thing.

Occurrences of flood events stretched out in the 1980s in the developing residential low-lying areas in Pasig and Marikina due to uncontrolled destruction on the riverbanks by informal settlers. Marikina’s hasty developing city has encouraged residents to congests the city. This unplanned urban growth has harmfully worsened the condition of the city’s drainage system.