Typhoon Tino to exit Phl today

MANILA, Philippines - Typhoon Wipha, which was hovering over the Pacific Ocean for the past few days, entered the Philippine area of responsibility yesterday but it is not expected to directly affect any part of the country, the state weather bureau said.

The typhoon, which was given the local name Tino, was spotted at 1,190 kilometers northeast of Basco, Batanes with maximum sustained winds of 160 kilometers per hour (kph) near the center and gustiness of up to 195 kph as of 4 p.m. yesterday.

It was forecast to exit the country this morning, moving north northwest at 20 kph.

Rene Paciente, chief of the weather forecasting section of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), yesterday said good weather will prevail over Luzon aside from isolated thunderstorms in the next three days.

The Visayas and Mindanao will have light to occasionally moderate rains due to the intertropical convergence zone.

Paciente said Tino will pass the northeastern border of the Philippine area of responsibility.

“The typhoon is very far from the country,” he said.

However, Paciente continued to warn the public against venturing out to the seaboards of northern Luzon and Palawan due to strong winds brought by Tino as well as Typhoon Santi.

Santi left the Philippine area of responsibility last Sunday.

Tino, on the other hand, was predicted to be 1,110 km northeast of Basco or outside the Philippine area of responsibility this morning, Paciente said.

Paciente said one cyclone is still expected to enter the country this month, two or three in November and one or two in December.

Paciente warned that cyclones during the last quarter of the year usually make landfall.

A total of 20 cyclones have entered the country so far this year.

Monsoon ends

Paciente added that the southwest monsoon, which brought intense rains over the country in the past months, has terminated.

He said the country is currently in a transition period.

Paciente said a shift of wind system to northeasterly will happen by last week of this month.

However, he said the cold weather associated with the northeast monsoon will be felt by November.

7 missing, 33 injured

The death toll from Santi remained at 13 while seven persons are still missing. The typhoon also left 33 persons injured, disaster management officials said.

Twenty-eight of those injured came from Nueva Ecija and the other five from Zambales.

Among those missing were three people whose motorized boat capsized in Lubbung Binuan Poblacion in Kabugao, Apayao last Saturday at the height of Santi.

Apayao police director Sr. Supt. Albertlito Garcia identified the three as Crispin Addil Talosig, Noralin Apin Talosig and a certain Heidie.

Members of the police force and the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council are conducting search and rescue operations for the missing people, Garcia said.

–  With Raymund Catindig, Artemio Dumlao, Ric Sapnu, Teddy Molina, Czeriza Valencia, Alexis Romero