TROPICAL storm “Dodong,” which exited the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) on Saturday afternoon, is no longer directly affecting any part of the country but will continue to enhance the southwest monsoon, bringing rains in many parts of the country, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Service Administration (PAGASA) said yesterday.
PAGASA weather specialist Daniel James Villamil said Dodong will bring rains in Luzon, including Metro Manila, and the Western Visayas region.
“Thus, chances of flashfloods and landslides in these areas remain high,” he said.
Villamil also said PAGASA is monitoring a cloud cluster outside PAR east of Mindanao.
“We are not ruling out the possibility that the cloud cluster will become a low pressure area in the coming days,” said Villamil.
If it becomes LPA, intensifies into a tropical depression and enters PAR, it will be named “Egay,” the country’s fifth tropical for the year and second for this month.
PAGASA, in a bulletin, said the enhanced southwest monsoon “may bring significant amount of rains within the next three days” in Pangasinan, Zambales, Bataan, and Occidental Mindoro.
“Under these conditions, flooding and rain-induced landslides are possible, especially in areas that are highly or very highly susceptible to these hazards as identified in hazard maps and in localities that experienced considerable amounts of rainfall for the past several days,” PAGASA said.
Dodong intensified into a tropical depression, from low pressure area (LPA) on Thursday last week and made landfall in Dinapigue in Isabela the following day. It further intensified into a tropical storm on Saturday morning and exited PAR at around 4 p.m. also on Saturday.
As of 3 p.m. yesterday Dodong, with international name “Talim,” was some 565 km west northwest of Laoag City, Ilocos Norte or 710 km west of Basco, Batanes. It was moving west northwest at 15 kph, packing maximum sustained winds of 95 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 115 kph.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said Dodong affected 491 families or 1,638 individuals in the regions of Ilocos, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, and Western Visayas.
Of the number, 454 families (1,508 individuals) remain displaced, the NDRRMC said.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said it has provided P734,057 worth of assistance to 1,045 families (4,758 persons) in six regions.
It also said 333 families (1,168 persons) are still staying in 27 evacuation centers and 43 families (199 persons) are staying with their relatives or friends. — With Jocelyn Montemayor
