Storms pound the Philippines almost every month but here’s how storm can help us.
Residents near the river basins and coastal areas have developed this phobia everytime weather disturbances, especially storms, hit and cross the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR).
Tropical Storm Carina has cued the start of August and a week after, a low pressure area strengthened by the Southwest monsoon has again brought torrential rains and submerged rice fields and high value crops into coffee-brown water. Residents were also water-invaded which made lives really difficult, making people prone to water-borne and skin diseases.
Although students, undeniably, benefit because cl(–foul word(s) removed–) are canceled in all levels which makes the free from lectures and boredom the whole day, they cannot even thank anyone because of the discomfort the bad weather brings.
But those are only the discomforts and difficulties. Although storms bring dark clouds, we can always bite into the bright side of them.
They fill up our reservoirs. In a tropical country like the Philippines, a large portion of the annual rain comes from cyclones. Though these are dubbed as “weather disturbances,” cyclones don’t only get rid of pollutants in the atmosphere, but also give us our much-needed water supply. In fact, studies shows that 25% of the water supplies in India and Southeast Asia come from rain showers brought by cyclones. Regions that are facing dry and drought conditions can benefit from cyclones. Increased rainfall enables the ground to hold more moisture that is conducive to crops.
They keep our bodies of water healthy. Rain showers help river systems flush out silt. According to National Geographic, silt is made up of rock and minerals that are bigger than clay but smaller than sand, that are worn away by water or ice. Silts are fine sediment that gathers at the bottoms of river, streams and lakes. These can be a rich source of nutrients for fish, however it can be presented by unnatural process. Build up of silts introduced by industry can be harmful as it contains chemicals.
Another advantage of rains is they inundate areas where fish can breed, thus increasing the number of fish. Cyclones can also help circulate nutrients from the seafloor, boosting ocean productivity.
They balance the global temperature. Cyclones move towards the poles, thus balancing the earth’s temperature by pushing warm tropical away from the equator. It is said that the poles will get a lot colder, and the tropics would get a lot hotter if there were no tropical cyclones.
It is proven, aside from wetter and greener yards after the storms, they are also essential to our survival.
