MANILA, Philippines—When tropical storm “Ondoy” (international name Ketsana) came in September 2009, it killed close to 500 people, rendered thousands of families homeless and destroyed infrastructure and crops worth over P10 billion.

For one University of the Philippines professor, this event should serve as a reminder to Filipinos to remain vigilant and aware of their surroundings at all times.

“This is the reason why we set up nababaha.com. This website serves to warn people, making them more prepared should another Ondoy strike ... in the future,” Dr. Alfredo Mahar Lagmay told teachers and students attending the 168th General Assembly of the Foundation for Upgrading the Standard of Education.

Lagmay explained that nababaha.com features an interactive map of the Philippines that could be zoomed in to show places where flooding would likely occur. Once completed, the website could even provide information on how high and how fast the level of floodwater would rise.

The website combines information from Google Maps, which show watersheds and water channels, as well as flood simulations undertaken by Flo2d, a United States Federal Emergency Management Agency-approved flood routing application software.

The inundation maps presented in nababaha.com were simulated using rainfall delivered by tropical storm Ondoy on Sept. 26, 2009.

Laymay said the interactive flood map was created by a group of volunteers from the UP Volcano Tectonics of the National Institute of Geological Sciences (NIGS), IBM, Ateneo de Manila and a councilor from San Pablo City.

“The website stands as a permanent record of flood heights, which can be used as gauge to measure past and future floods. This would enable people to know which places to avoid should they experience [heavy rainfall],” he explained.

Lagmay is hopeful that this “flood forecasting” tool he developed at nababaha.com will be able to effectively aid government in all its disaster relief efforts.