ILOILO – Weather disturbance “Auring” intensified into a tropical storm late Thursday morning.
It was forecast to pass Panay Island’s provinces of Aklan, Antique, Capiz, and Iloilo, including Iloilo City, on Sunday or Monday, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa).
“Feb. 21 or 22 ‘yong dates na dapat paghandaan. Posible nga dumaan ang bagyo sa isla ng Panay,” said Raffy Tapales, chief metrological officer of Pagasa-Iloilo, in a virtual pre-disaster risk assessment meeting called by the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) Region 6 yesterday.
Officials from the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Health, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), and the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction officers from Capiz, Antique, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Guimaras, and Aklan were present at the meeting.
Based on Pagasa-Iloilo’s forecast, in the next 24 hours “Auring” would be at 535 km east southeast of Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur; 48 hours (Saturday morning) 315 km east southeast of Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur; 72 hours (Sunday morning) in the vicinity of Surigao City, Surigao del Norte; and 84 hours (Monday morning) 85 km north of Cuyo, Palawan.
Stormy weather may likely be experienced in Panay Island on Sunday and Monday.
Sea travel is risky, especially for fishing boats, Tapales said.
The provinces of Guimaras and Negros Occidental including Bacolod City may also experience heavy rains on the said days.
DILG-6 official Danilo Pedrajas said they have started giving directives to local government units (LGUs), provincial offices and highly urbanized cities including component cities in the region.
The agency also forwarded to the LGUs the MGB’s list of areas with 24, 48 and 72 hours rain-induced debris flow, landslide and flood.
“LGUs were advised to establish critical preparedness actions and prioritize the prepositioning of supplies and equipment for response,” Pedrajas said.
LGUs should continue monitoring weather advisories from Pagasa and those areas that would possibly experience rain-induced debris flow, landslide and flood, he added.
Meanwhile, DSWD-6 said it prepared 37,855 food packs./PN