Project Noah

Noah, a program to install rain gauges and flood monitoring and warning systems in the country’s major river systems, had been recently installed as one of the government’s first step in the coming season. A joint effort by the Philippine government and the local sector, Noah is said to be a vital tool in the coming rainy season.

Project Noah In a speech read for him at the 1st Philippine International River Summit on Thursday, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan, said the PLDT Group’s Smart Communications and Sun Cellular will help the government’s P1.7-billion project to make communities resilient to typhoons.

According to latest Philippines Weather news, government officials and private sector participants told the summit that the Philippines, which suffer average 20 storms a year, badly needed to manage river systems and install a better alert system for floods to prevent the loss of lives and property.

As part of its assistance, the PLDT Group has allowed the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) to install automatic rain gauges (ARGs) in 600 cell sites of Smart and Sun all over the country over two years, said Pangilinan. PLDT installed 63 rain gauges for the country’s weather bureau last year.
Like the biblical patriarch for which it was named, Project Noah will warn communities of impending flooding in their communities in the event of continuous rains.

“Project Noah combined with other new technologies like the Doppler radar, will finally bring the country’s disaster preparedness systems into the 21st century. Even before floods strike, we can know to an unprecedented level of detail how such calamities will impact on our cities and towns,” Pangilinan said in the speech read for him by Michael Toledo, Philex Mining Corp. vice president for corporate affairs.

A Rainy Start of the School Year According to latest Technology Philippines news, while the wet season hasn’t officially kicked in yet, monsoon rains are expected to affect the opening of classes next week.

Southern Luzon, the Visayas and western and northeastern Mindanao would start experiencing isolated to widespread rain showers this weekend, said forecaster Nikos Peñaranda of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa).

“We should watch out for these possible monsoon rains. Next week will be critical. It’s likely that we’ll be experiencing monsoon rains as well by next week because of the enhancement of the southwest monsoon,’’ Peñaranda said in an interview.