Tropical Storm Peilou develops, may enhance monsoon

MANILA, Philippines — A tropical storm with international name Peilou has developed outside the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) and may affect the southwest monsoon or habagat in the coming days, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said.

Based on the latest weather satellite yesterday at 4 p.m., Peilou was last located at 2,200 kilometers east of extreme Northern Luzon, packing winds of 65 kms per hour and gusts of 85 kph while moving east-southeastward at 25 kph.

While it has an unlikely chance of entering PAR in the next 24 hours, Peilou will pull up the southwest monsoon and bring rains in many parts of the country, according to PAGASA weather specialist Charmagne Varilla.

Monsoon rains will be felt in Ilocos Sur, La Union, Benguet, Zambales, Bataan and Occidental Mindoro due to habagat, with occasional rains in Metro Manila, the rest of Ilocos Region, rest of Cordillera Administrative Region, Nueva Vizcaya, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Bulacan, Rizal, Cavite, Batangas, Oriental Mindoro and Antique.

Batanes will have cloudy skies with scattered rains and thunderstorms due to the trough of Tropical Cyclone Dolphin, which is now outside the monitoring domain of PAGASA.

From tomorrow until Wednesday afternoon, Zambales, Bataan and Occidental Mindoro will remain in orange heavy rainfall warning while La Union, Ilocos Sur, Pangasinan, Benguet, Tarlac, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Cavite and Batangas will be under yellow heavy rainfall warning.

President Marcos has ordered agencies to undertake measures to ensure the safety of residents in areas affected by the southwest monsoon, Malacañang said yesterday.

Water levels rise in 9 dams

All nine dams being monitored by PAGASA have increased water level, figures showed yesterday.

Based on the dam information of PAGASA as of yesterday 8 a.m., Angat Dam’s level is now at 161.81 meters, a 2.92-m increase from the earlier day’s 158.89 m. However, this is still far from the 210 m normal high-water level of the dam.

Ambuklao Dam and Binga Dam are now at their exact normal high-water level at 752 m and 575 m, respectively. Both dams have opened their gates and released water as habagat continues to drench the Cordillera region.

Other dams have also increased their water levels, with San Roque Dam reaching the highest elevation, rising from 233.62 m to 239.72.

La Mesa Dam’s water level has increased from 79.37 m to 79.72 m, near the normal high-water level at 80.15 m, while Pantabangan Dam’s level has risen from 180.83 m to 181.46 m.

Magat Dam recorded an increase from 169.62 m to 170.73 m, while Caliraya Dam was raised from 286.75 m to 286.99 m.

In Bulacan, the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office reported that water level in Bustos Dam has reached 16.48 meters, which is above its spilling level of 16 meters. — Ramon Efren Lazaro, Artemio Dumlao, Alexis Romero