This is the terrifying moment torrential rain battered a market in the Philippines during a summer thunderstorm.

Customers eating at a street stall sheltered at one of the shops when the heavy rains poured in Caloocan City in Metro Manila on May 23.

Onlooker Junie Henaro Mantaring said he was on his way to a job interview when the sky turned dark and the water started to pour.

He said: ‘It was such a scary experience. The roofs and the poles almost blew off because of the strong wind.’

Weather state bureau forecastar Grace Castaneda said the weather phenomenon was called ‘downdraft’ where the wind drops to the ground as a result of the thunderstorm which caused heavy rains and strong winds. It usually occurs when the summer season transitions to the rainy season.

The Philippines and other countries in Southeast Asia such as Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia are approaching their tropical monsoon rainy season. Soaring temperatures reaching 35 degrees Celsius are often followed by powerful tropical storms with thunder, lightning, rain and flash floods.