Luis, Mario, and Habagat

The week started with northern Luzon being battered by Typhoon Luis (Kalmaegi), leaving at least two people dead in separate drowning incidents. As if the region wasn’t soaked enough, days later Tropical Storm Mario (Fung-Wong), which was originally forecast to just graze the northeast tip of Luzon, instead went through the region, dumping rain over the disaster zone. And as Mario trudged through the northern half of the country, it enhanced the Southwest Monsoon (habagat), which, in turn, brought excessive rain to the rest of Luzon and the Visayas. The enhanced habagat first caused fooding and landslides in Central Visayas, then brought Metro Manila to a standstill. The horrors of this week’s habagat again reminded the capital’s residents of 2009’s Ondoy, but the weather bureau said it was considerably less menacing. Bonus:Makati City experienced a shower of ice pellets in the middle of the week. Talk about an eventful seven days.

More on Luis, Mario, and the Habagat on our WeatherAlert site.