Weather bureau PAGASA on Friday warned residents of Eastern Visayas, particularly the Samar provinces, to brace for more rains as tropical storm Urduja continues its slow movement.
“People living in the Eastern Visayas, especially in the Samar provinces, remain in danger because they’re in the path of the tropical storm,” weather specialist Loriedin De la Cruz said in Tagalog.
“Urduja is still moving slow, this is why a lot people in the Bicol Region and Eastern Visayas are experiencing moderate to heavy rainfall over the past 24 hours,” she added.
As of 10am this morning, Urduja was spotted 240 kilometers east of Borongan City in Eastern Samar, packing maximum sustained winds of 75 kilometers per hour near the center and gusts of up to 90 kph.
PAGASA said Urduja is likely to make landfall between Saturday morning or afternoon over Northern Samar or Eastern Samar area.
Estimated rainfall amount is from moderate to heavy within the 500 km diameter of the tropical storm.
Scattered to widespread rains will continue over Eastern Visayas and Caraga and are likewise expected to prevail over Bicol Region and the rest of Visayas within 24 hours.
De La Cruz said that Guian in Eastern Samar has the highest rainfall amount recorded over the past 24 hours at 780 mm, followed by Borongan, Eastern Samar (343 mm), Catbalogan, Western Samar (215 mm), Tacloban City, Leyte (192.4 mm), and Maasin, Southern Leyte (95.4 mm).
“People living in low-lying areas are experiencing flooding,”” she said.
“We are continuing to advise people to follow the instructions of their local government units if they tell you it’s necessary to evacuate, and to monitor updates from PAGASA because we are foreseeing that the situation can be dangerous due to the continuing rainfall,” she added.
Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal 2 is still raised over Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, Samar and Biliran.
Signal No. 1 is hoisted over the following areas:
Luzon
Catanduanes
Camarines Sur
Albay
Sorsogon
Romblon and
Masbate, including Burias and Ticao Islands
Visayas
Leyte
Southern Leyte
Nothern Cebu
Capiz
Aklan, and
Northern Iloilo,
Mindanao
Dinagat Islands
Meanwhile, sea travel remains risky over the eastern seaboards of Bicol Region and of Visayas due to the approaching storm.
Several areas in the Visayas cancelled classes on Friday because of the typhoon.
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