7 Areas in Luzon, Visayas Under Signal no. 1 as Typhoon Dodong Maintains Strength

(PNA) – At least seven provinces in Luzon and Visayas are now under public storm warning signal no. 1 as Typhoon “Dodong” maintained its strength but slowed down moving west-northwest headed towards east of Luzon, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said on Friday.

In an interview, PAGASA weather forecaster Fernando Cada said Signal No. 1 (30-60 kph winds expected in at least 36 hours) is hoisted over in Luzon including the provinces of Catanduanes, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Albay, Sorsogon, Polillo Island, and Northern Samar in Visayas.

He added signal no.1 will be possibly raised over the provinces of Quezon, Aurora and Isabela.

The potential impacts of the winds under signal no.1 are the following:

•No damage to high risk structures.

•Light damage to medium to low risk structures.

•Slight damage to some houses of very light materials or makeshift structures in exposed communities.

•Some banana plants are tilted, a few downed and leaves are generally damaged.

•Twigs of small trees may be broken.

•Rice crops, however, may suffer significant damage when it is in its flowering stage.

Cada said that as of 5 a.m., the center of typhoon “Dodong” was located at 575 km East of Borongan, Eastern Samar (11.9°N,130.7°E) packed with maximum sustained winds of 150 kilometers per hour (kph) near the center while its gustiness up to 185 kph.

He added typhoon Dodong decelerates its speed to 17 kph from 20 kph and continues to move west-northwest .

With its current speed and movement, he said it is expected to make landfall on Sunday (May 10) in Isabela-Aurora area.

He said that typhoon Dodong is expected to slightly weaken as it makes landfall and because normally, typhoons with such intensity slightly weakens because of presence of mountains when it hits land and probably as it exits PAR (Philippine Area of Responsibility) by Tuesday (May 12) headed towards Japan.

Cada said the typhoon has a slim chance of intensifying into super typhoon category.

He noted once the typhoon continues to get near the landmass, the outer rain cloudbands will bring rains over the Eastern Visayas, Bicol Region and some parts of Luzon including Metro Manila by weekend.

He said the state weather bureau will issued gale warning once they raise public storm warning signal 2 due to the presence of typhoon Dodong that will affect the eastern seaboards of Luzon and Visayas. He urged the public not to venture out into sea.

For Friday forecast, Cada said rains and gusty winds will be experienced in Northern Samar, Polillo Island and Bicol Region.

He added due to localized thunderstorms, the typhoon will bring cloudy skies with light to moderate rains over Central Visayas, Caraga, Davao, Northern Mindanao and rest of Eastern Visayas.

Cada also said the rest of the country including Metro Manila will continue to experience good weather with partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms.

On Thursday, Metro Manila’s highest temperature was at 33.9 degrees Celsisus recorded around 1 p.m. at the agency’s Science Garden in Diliman, Quezon City.

For Friday, temperature in Metro Manila will range 24-35 degrees Celsius while the heat index will be 28-39 degrees Celsius.

The estimated rainfall amount is from heavy to intense within the 300 km diameter of the Typhoon.

In its advisory, PAGASA said moderate to strong winds blowing from the Northeast to Northwest will prevail over the Eastern section of Southern Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao and the coastal waters along these areas will be moderate to rough.

Elsewhere, winds will be light to moderate coming from the East to Northeast with slight to moderate seas.(PNA) LAM/CLTC/BJNMORALES-OJT