Seniang to batter south Cebu today

CEBU, Philippines - Tropical storm Seniang is expected to hit southern Cebu today.

Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration PAGASA-Visayas Director Oscar Tabada said the weather will continue to be rainy, with winds up to 40 to 50 kilometers per hour as the storm passes.

“Metro Cebu will still be rainy but Seniang’s center will most likely hit Carcar-Sibonga areas tomorrow (today) morning. Before noontime, it will be over Negros Oriental area,” he said.

The tropical storm was forecast to have passed by eastern Bohol last night.

By the afternoon of December 31, Seniang is expected to already be over northern Palawan.

The yearend weather disturbance is projected to exit the Philippine Area of Responsibility by January 1.

Bohol, southern Cebu, Siquijor, Negros Oriental were placed under Public Storm Warning Signal Number 2 yesterday noon, while the rest of Cebu, Leyte and Southern Leyte pro-vinces are under Signal Number 1.

At 2:54 p.m. yesterday, Seniang’s center was located by PAGASA’s Mactan Cebu Doppler radar at 75 kilometers east-northeast of Anda, Bohol and 165 kilometers of Mactan.

By 5:45 p.m., Seniang’s center was already at 50 kilometers east-northeast of Anda; 112 kilometers east-southeast of Tagbilaran, Bohol; 136 kilometers east-southeast of the weather bureau’s Mactan station.

As of noon yesterday, at least 7,400 passengers from all over the region were stranded, as monitored by the Philippine Coast Guard Central Visayas.

Commander Weniel Azcuna, PCG-7 chief of staff, said the number is from December 28, as gathered by their command centers at the ports in Cebu, Bohol, and Negros Oriental.

PCG also prevented from sailing at least six motor bancas and 46 vessels, including two owned by 2Go Travel.

Carrying 557 passengers who were supposed to head to Manila, MV St. Leo the Great is currently anchored at pier 4 in Cebu City, while MV St. Francis Javier, which was to depart for Zamboanga with its 916 passengers, is temporarily taking shelter in Dumaguete City.

“The passengers are staying inside the vessels. The shipping companies usually provide them food and necessities while on standby. Right now, there is no need for them to take shelter outside the vessel. We are closely monitoring these vessels,” Azcuna told The FREEMAN.

He hoped that the number of stranded passengers will not continue to rise as it is already public knowledge that sea trips have been cancelled due to tropical storm Seniang.

“When we went around the ports, we saw passengers hoping to get tickets at the ticketing offices. We told them to go home because we have not given the go signal for shipping lines to have their ships sail,” Azcuna said.

While Seniang is expected to hit Cebu today, Azcuna stressed that trip cancellation is dependent on PAGASA’s weather bulletin.

“There is still a chance that vessels will be allowed to sail tomorrow (today) night. But this is depending on the weather bulletin of PAGASA. If the storm warning signal is lifted, we might allow them to sail,” he said.

He added, though, that public storm warning signal is not the only factor PCB takes into consideration when cancelling sea travel.

“We have what we call gale warning. This affects sea condition. So we will still see what happens after the lifting of the storm warning signal,” he said. — /RHM (FREEMAN)