1921 Philippine Money (Family Collection) Rediscovered Because of the Floods.

Obverse:  5 Pesos circa 1921 (American regime) issued by the Philippine National Bank.

Reverse:  literally wiped-out.  In close up, some characters are still recognizable, though.

Is there anything good that came out of the recently atrocious event which can only be depicted by grotesque scenes of waist-deep floods brought about by the "enhanced" southwest monsoon that hit Metro Manila?  Could you think of one?  Was there any silver lining?  For me, there's one.  My mom "rediscovered" these really old Philippine paper bills from my grandfather's collection!  Yey!

How Much Rainfall Was There From This FREAK Southwest Monsoon?

According to the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) tweet (5:40pm), the place shown in the picture above, in front of SM Sta. Mesa in Manila, the waters have risen to more than 6 feet ("lampas-tao") already.

Just how much rainfall did we experience in the last 24 hours?  According to GMA 7's Mang Tani (i.e., Nathaniel Cruz, resident expert meteorologist), we just experienced in the last 24 hours a 324-mm. of rainfall.  The normal rainfall for a whole month (for August) is said to be about 504 mm.  In just 24 hours, we had more than half of what we usually get in 30 days!

Ondoy (Ketsana) Deja Vu. Southwest Monsoon Woes

V. Mapa LRT Station in Manila

Aurora Boulevard in Manila

view from my bedroom window in Pasig City

continuous rain for the past 3 days;  morning looks like the sun is about to go down.  

view on a clear day

I now have a fair understanding of how 40 days and 40 nights of continuous rain could destroy the entire world!  As of this writing (2:30 in the afternoon of 7 August 2012), there is no storm, typhoon, cyclone, low pressure area, nor dangerous weather system afflicting the Philippines, just your usual wet monsoon (i.e., "hanging habagat" in the vernacular).   But Oh My God!  This monsoon is by no means your ordinary wet monsoon.  It's a FREAK southwest monsoon.  It's been continuously raining for the past 3 days and flash floods have already wreaking havoc in central and southern regions of Luzon including the National Capital region, Metro Manila.  It's freakishly scary!