This has been an absolutely crazy week of events.  Typhoon Labuyo in the Northern Philippines, the Ferry Disaster in the Central Philippines, and now the heaviest recorded rain in history is falling in Manila.

Heavy Monsoon rains have continued to pound the Philippines for the third straight day as officials report that more than 60% of the capitol, Manila, is submerged.   Enhanced by Tropical Storm Maring (Trami), which is hovering just to the north of the Philippines, rainfall has exceeded any previous storm in recorded history.  Prior to this week, the heaviest recorded rainfall was in 2009 when Typhoon Ketsana dropped 455 mm of rain in 24 hours.  By comparison, rainfall reached 600 mm (23.62 inches) in and around Manila Bay on Sunday alone.  This is more than a month’s worth of rain in one day.

More than 200 evacuation centers were opened in Manila and surrounding provinces, filled with tens of thousands of People. Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman said that more than 600,000 people have been affected by the floods.   At least seven people have died, including four who drowned north of Manila on Monday.  So far today there have been no new reports of fatalities.

The government has suspended all work except for rescue and disaster response for a second day.   Many domestic and international flights at the International Airport in Manila were cancelled.

Please pray for the people of the Philippines and for the Nazarene families impacted.   At this early stage, we do not yet have information on the extent of flooding and losses for our churches and church families.   Tropical Storm Maring (Trami) is forecast to move out of the area towards Taiwan by Wednesday and the rain is expected to taper over the next 24 hours.

This flooding comes on the heels of Typhoon Labuyo that made landfall in the Northern Philippines last Monday.  Nazarene Disaster Response in partnership with Nazarene Compassionate Ministries provided relief supplies to Nazarene Families impacted by that storm.

Asia-Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary is situated on higher ground to the east of Manila and has been spared significant flooding, although staff, students, and faculty, are in their second day of no classes as a result of the weather.

 Photos from Associated Press

Please continue to pray for our Nazarene families and churches as they deal with yet another major weather event in only 8 days.