Topography

There are four physiographical areas in the Province of Cavite, namely, lowest lowland area,
lowland area, central hilly area, and upland mountainous area (Figure 1).
The lowest lowland area in the Province of Cavite have extremely low ground level of EL. 0m to
EL. 2m compared to the high tide level of about EL. 0.8m from the Mean Sea Level (MSL).
These are the municipalities of Bacoor, Kawit, Noveleta and Rosario.
The lowland area, on the other hand, consists of the coastal and alluvial plains. These areas have
flat ground slope of less than 0.5% and low ground elevation of EL. 2m to EL. 30m. The alluvial
plain can be found in the municipality of Imus and southern part of General Trias. Into these
municipalities forms the transition area between the coastal plain and the central hilly area. It
also covers some areas of Bacoor, Kawit, Noveleta, Rosario and Tanza.
The third topography type is the central hilly area, generally found on the mountain foot slope.
This topography includes steep hills, ridges and elevated inland valley. This is characterized with
ground elevation ranging from 30m to nearly 400m. Its ground slope ranges from 0.5 to 2%. The
city of Trece Martires and the municipalities of Dasmariñas (ground elevation in Poblacion is 80
meters and rises to 250 meters going to Silang), Indang and Silang have this kind of topography.
The last topography type is upland mountainous area, found in Amadeo and Tagaytay City. They
are situated at a very high elevation above EL. 400m with slopes of more than 2%. The Tagaytay
ridge has a peak elevation of 650m.

Figure 1. Topography in Cavite

Ground Ground City/Municipality
Division Slope Elevation Overlapped
Bacoor City, Kawit, Noveleta,
Extremely Low Land Area Almost Flat 0 to 2 m Rosario
Bacoor City, Kawit, Noveleta,
Less than Rosario, General Trias, Imus
Lowland Area 0.5% 2 to 30 m City, Tanza
Trece Martirez City,
Dasmarinas City, Indang,
Central Hilly Area 0.5% to 2% 30 to 400 m Silang
Upland Mountainous
Area 2% 400 to 650 m Amadeo, Tagaytay
Source: The Study on Comprehensive Flood Mitigation for Cavite Lowland Area in the
Republic of the Philippines, Japan International Cooperation Agency, July 2007.
Flood Conditions
The causes of the floods in the Province are rooted to two common causes, namely: (1) The flash
flood caused by the flood overflow of the river channels; and (2) The inland flood, which is
caused by stagnant of storm rainfall and high tide.
The Imus/Bacoor River, San Juan/Ylang Ylang River and Canas River have inadequate flow
capacity, which lead to the flash floods. Flash floods tend to occur at the narrow sections, low
dike section and debris clogging section. Moreover, the flood peak discharge tends to increase in
the recent years due to the intensive land development for industrial and housing uses in the
middle and upper reaches of the river basins.
The coastal areas are prone to inland flood due to their low-elevated and flat topography.
Further, the areas are affected by tide of the sea. Hence, the areas are habitually flooded by
inland water during rainy season and severely flooded, when it rained at the time of high tide.
The flood condition has become more serious in the recent years due to the clogging of drainage
channels by dumped garbage, and illegal reclamation of drainage channels. The land
development will decrease the basin retarding capacity of inland floodwater, resulting increase of
the flood damage.
Central hilly and upland mountainous areas in Cavite since they are served by natural drainage
system since it is traversed by several rivers and water tributaries draining to the Manila Bay,
and hence, have not yet experienced floods.