'Ramil' seen out of RP today

MANILA, Philippines - Tropical storm “Ramil” (international code name: Lupit) continued to move slowly away from the country, weather forecasters said yesterday.

According to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), Ramil is heading northeast away from the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) toward Japan at 15 kilometers per hour.

As of 5 p.m. yesterday Ramil was spotted 425 kilometers northeast of Basco, Batanes or 100 kms south of Okinawa, Japan.

Signal No. 1 remains hoisted over the Batanes Group of Islands as Ramil continues to zigzag northeast.

Ramil weakened into a tropical storm after it almost hit the province of Cagayan before it made a 90-degree turn northeast.

Pagasa said the erratic movement of Ramil was caused by two high-pressure areas from the South China Sea in the west and the Pacific Ocean in the east, each pulling the storm in its direction.

Pagasa spokesman Nathaniel Cruz assured the public there would be no more storms coming after Ramil in the next few days.

“We do not see any weather disturbance after Ramil until Oct. 28,” Cruz said.

The much feared and anticipated typhoon kept weary residents on edge and weather forecasters dumbfounded over its erratic course over the last few days.

The storm, however, managed to destroy a house in rain-soaked Cagayan.

Authorities reported that the only damage left by the storm was the house of Eduardo Alcantara, a fisherman from Barangay Maura in Aparri town, which was washed away by a storm surge that almost caused the town’s seawall to break.

Local officials are now looking for an alternative site to put up Alcantara’s residence. Alcantara and his family had joined the thousands of residents that were preemptively evacuated following warnings that the center of Ramil could strike the town over the weekend.

Fortunately Ramil, which has been hovering over the coast of Cagayan for several days, veered from its expected path of destruction. Authorities said the negligible number of evacuees and damaged property could be attributed to the preemptive response strategies.

“Thanks to the prompt response of authorities in evacuating their constituents (from danger zones), many lives have been saved, actions which have proven correct during the previous typhoon,” said Chief Superintendent Roberto Damian, Cagayan Valley police director and concurrent Regional Disaster Coordinating Council (RDCC) chairman.

Even as the weather improved after the typhoon veered away yesterday, local officials and the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) led by Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro advised residents to stay put because of the continued threats of landslides and floods.

Local officials ordered the preemptive evacuation of residents, particularly those in the coastal areas of Cagayan.

The province, along with Benguet, Pangasinan, La Union and the Ilocos provinces, are still reeling from the devastation left by typhoon “Pepeng” two weeks before.

The forced evacuation of residents in Aparri came after its concrete sea wall, which protects the town’s coastline from high tide or onslaught of huge waves, broke down from strong winds and tides during the approach of Ramil.

The RDCC said some 600 evacuees, whose villages in Aparri, Santa Ana, Gonzaga, Santa Teresita and Pamplona have been hit by strong waves and storm surges, started to go back to their villages yesterday.

The NDCC pulled out its disaster and rescue units from the province as the residents trooped back to their homes.

NDCC spokesman Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres said relief distribution for the evacuees would still continue, particularly to those families affected by the previous storms.

Torres added that relief distribution and rehabilitation operations will also continue in the Cordillera region, the Ilocos provinces, Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog. - Evelyn Macairan, Charlie Lagasca and Jaime Laude