Northern Luzon residents asked to evacuate; 'Ramil' to make landfall Thursday

MANILA, Philippines - The weather bureau yesterday advised residents living in low-lying areas and near mountain slopes to evacuate as typhoon “Ramil” is expected to make landfall over extreme northern Luzon on Thursday.

“If you can, evacuate now,” said Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) deputy chief Nathaniel Cruz.

Cruz said the typhoon was forecast to make landfall over Cagayan, threatening to bring heavy rains and strong winds over the areas that were earlier devastated by typhoon “Pepeng.”

Cruz said heavy rains could trigger landslides because the soil has become saturated from weeks of rain brought by tropical storm “Ondoy” and Pepeng.

Pagasa also warned residents living along coastal areas against storm surges.

Cruz said the typhoon is expected to gain more strength before making landfall.

He said that as of 4 p.m. yesterday, Ramil was packing winds of 195 kilometers per hour near the center and gustiness of up to 230 kph. It was forecast to move west northwest at 17 kph.

Cruz said the areas that are likely to experience the effects of Ramil are the provinces of Cagayan, Isabela, Kalinga, Apayao, Mountain Province, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte, La Union, Pangasinan, Benguet and Nueva Vizcaya.

Cruz said rains due to Ramil could be felt in areas in the eastern section of northern Luzon starting this afternoon.

“If it will not change its present speed and path, it will make landfall over Cagayan on Thursday,” Cruz said.

As of 4 p.m. yesterday, the eye of Ramil was spotted at 1,070 km east of Aparri, Cagayan.

Pagasa has not yet raised any public storm warning signal.

Cruz said Ramil would only bring light rainshowers to Metro Manila.

Pagasa said for the next 24 hours, southern Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao would experience mostly cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms due to the inter-tropical convergence zone.

The rest of Luzon would be partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated rain showers or thunderstorms.

Ramil is the 18th tropical cyclone to enter the country this year and the third weather disturbance this month.

Ramil is predicted to be at 790 km east northeast of Aparri, Cagayan this afternoon; at 310 km east northeast of Aparri tomorrow afternoon and at 80 km east of Laoag City by Thursday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Pagasa said five dams in Luzon are continuously releasing water in anticipation of heavy rains brought by Ramil.

It said four spillway gates of Ambuklao Dam in Bokod, Benguet were releasing 74 cubic meters of water per second, while the Binga Dam in Itogon had two gates open and was releasing 276 cubic meters per second (cms).

The San Roque Dam in San Manuel, Pangasinan, meanwhile, had two spillway gates open and was releasing 430 cms.

The Pantabangan and Magat Dams each had one gate open, releasing 220 cms and 560 cms as of Monday morning.

Local disaster councils activated

Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said governors and mayors in Cagayan, Ilocos Norte, Kalinga, Apayao and Batanes group of islands should immediately activate their respective Local Disaster Coordinating Councils (LDCCs).

Puno, vice chairman of the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC), said governors and mayors are the heads of disaster coordinating councils that conduct disaster control and rescue operations.

Puno urged local officials to closely coordinate their efforts with the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine National Police and other government agencies.

He met with local chief executives of calamity-stricken provinces, cities and municipalities of Metro Manila and central Luzon to craft a new set of disaster control and rescue protocols.

“We have to come up with a new disaster control plan because after typhoon Ondoy, we saw a different profile to the disasters that we will face in the future. We used to focus on relief and rehabilitation, but now we saw after Ondoy that we need to also focus on rescue operations,” he said.

Meanwhile, the AFP placed on alert the 120,000 troops nationwide in preparation for rescue and relief operations for typhoon Ramil.

Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner Jr., AFP Public Information Office (PIO) chief, said rescue troops and the military’s disaster assets, including rubber boats and vehicles, were being pre-positioned since Saturday near the areas expected to be affected by storm surges, flooding and landslides.

“Our entire force is on blue alert for typhoon Ramil since Saturday afternoon,” Brawner said. Under blue alert status, the second highest military alert, 50 percent of all troops were ready for immediate deployment while the rest are on standby. – With Jaime Laude, Mayen Jaymalin, Evelyn Macairan, James Mananghaya, Cecille Suerte Felipe