Pagasa: More areas under storm signals

MANILA, Philippines - More areas were placed under storm warning signals yesterday as Typhoon Huaning (international name Soulik) moved closer to extreme northern Luzon, the state weather bureau said.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) raised storm warning signal number 2 over the Batanes group of islands as of 5 p.m. yesterday.

Signal no. 1, meanwhile, was hoisted over Calayan and Babuyan group of islands.

Pagasa said Huaning maintained its strength as it continued to move toward Taiwan-Batanes area.

As of 4 p.m., the eye of the typhoon was spotted at 360 kilometers northeast of Itbayat, Batanes with maximum sustained winds of 165 kilometers per hour near the center and gustiness of up to 200 kph.

It was still forecast to move west-northwest at 20 kph.

The weather bureau continued to advise fishermen especially those using small seacraft not to venture out to the northern and eastern seaboards of northern and central Luzon due to big waves generated by the typhoon.

The Philippine Navy, for its part, yesterday said there were no reports of stranded passengers because of sufficient information provided on the movement of Huaning.

The typhoon is expected to bring moderate to intense rainfall (four to 17 millimeters per hour) within its 900-km radius.

Huaning the eighth tropical cyclone to enter the country this year and the first weather disturbance this month - is expected to exit the country this morning.

It is expected to be at 540 km north northwest of Itbayat or 140 km northwest of northern Taiwan this afternoon.

However, Pagasa said the Batanes group of islands will still experience stormy weather with rough to very rough seas in the next 24 hours.

It said Calayan and Babuyan group of islands will experience rains with gutsy winds.

Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon will have cloudy skies with light to moderate rainshowers or thunderstorms.

Visayas and Mindanao will be partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated rainshowers and thunderstorms.