'Pedring' to hit Luzon
At least nine areas in Luzon were placed under public storm warning signal Sunday, as tropical storm “Pedring” (international name: “Nesat”) threatened to make landfall over Isabela-Aurora Monday night.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said the eye of the storm was located 460 kilometers (km) east-northeast of Virac, Catanduanes Sunday afternoon.
Senior weather forecaster Mario Palafox said the storm has moved faster towards the west at 28 kph.
He said that if the speed and direction are maintained, the weather disturbance may hit the landmass of Isabela or Aurora by this evening.
“It is also expected to intensify into a typhoon before it makes a landfall,” Palafox said.
Signal No. 2 was hoisted over Catanduanes province Sunday afternoon.
Areas placed under Signal No. 1 were Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte, Albay, Burias Island, Sorsogon, Quezon, Polillo Island, and Aurora.
He added that these areas will experience moderate to heavy rains in the next 24 hours.
Likewise, Metro Manila and other parts of Luzon will experience moderate to heavy rains due to the “combined effects of southwest monsoon (hanging habagat) and the outer spiral of the tropical cyclone” this afternoon.
Pedring is expected to be at 190 km east of Baler, Aurora by Monday afternoon and at 140 km west-northwest of Sinait, Ilocos Sur by Tuesday afternoon.
By Wednesday afternoon, it will be at 510 km northwest of Sinait, Ilocos Sur or at 540 km west of Basco, Batanes.
Palafox said “Pedring” may likely move out of the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) by Wednesday morning.
In Maguindanao, two children have drowned and close to 35,000 families or 160,000 people have been displaced in 14 towns due to floods spawned by monsoon rains and last week’s low pressure area.
Flooding was aggravated by overflowing rivers due to clogging from tons of water lilies, relief and disaster management officials said.
The two fatalities – Mujahad Dalagan, 13, and Cecil Mebpandi, 8 – drowned in two swamped barangays in Pagalungan town, said Loreto Rirao, regional director of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
Chunks of water hyacinths spanning more than 300 hectares in the 220,000-hectare Ligawasan Marsh drifted along tributary rivers amid continuous rains that began six days ago and spawned floods in 14 towns of this province and parts of North Cotabato.
The Army’s 6th Infantry Division sent in Saturday 100 more soldiers to complement troops and civilian volunteers converging since Wednesday to clear some 10-hectare size water lilies that clogged the passageway of Taviran Bridge along Butilen river here and forced water to spill over to most of villages here.
The four-day clearing works of dozens of volunteers had splintered a dismal portion of water lilies clogging the bridge, prompting ARMM Executive Secretary Naguib Sinarimbo to call on Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) chairperson Luwalhati Antonino to lend giant water masters, which were due to arrive yesterday.
Admiral Ramon Liwag, Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) commandant, warned fishermen and mariners alike to stay put on land as “Pedring” pummels its way towards the island of Luzon.
For shipping companies, the PCG commandant said that the agency will strictly adhere to the PCG Memorandum Circular 01-09, or the “Guidelines on Movement of Vessels During Bad Weather.” (With reports from Ali G. Macabalang and Leonard D. Postrado)
Manilla Bulletin
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