'Egay' stalls transportation in southern regions

Saturday, June 18, 2011

MANILA (Updated) -- Tropical Depression Egay started to make its presence felt Saturday after hundreds of boat passengers were stranded and four flights in Manila were suspended.

The weather disturbance has also brought more floods and woes to thousands of people in Central Mindanao, as flood waters met with sea waters Saturday, local officials said.

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The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) reported that a total of 661 passengers were not allowed to depart the ports in Bicol and Cebu due to rough waters. Motorized bancas in the said areas were also barred from going out to the sea.

In a separate advisory, the Manila International Airport Authority said four trips were called off due to bad weather.

Budget carrier Cebu Pacific canceled two flights between Manila and Catarman, while inter-island airline Sea Air suspended a roundtrip journey to Rodriguez, Palawan.

"Affected passengers will be accommodated in the next available flights. You may also rebook within 30 days of cancellation without penalties," Cebu Pacific said.

In Cotabato City in Mindanao, soldiers, policemen, firemen, private individuals and public works personnel continue to remove the tremendous arrival of water lilies from upstream to Delta Bridge, which connects the city and Maguindanao province.

Cotabato City disaster action man Sam Mundas said the floods reached some evacuation areas in the city, forcing already displaced families to be displaced again.

Social welfare officials said the flooding in Cotabato had displaced 18,000 persons, while more than 100,000 individuals in Maguindanao's 16 municipalities are now homeless.

Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo vowed to work for the deployment of more heavy equipment to help remove the aquatic plants clogging Rio Grande, which triggered the massive flooding.

Government officials in several other regions in the country were also ordered to render assistance to affected individuals.

The Philippine Coast Guard said Saturday that it is closely monitoring the situation in several ports in the country where hundreds of passengers were stranded to ensure security and safety.

The Office of Civil Defense is also on heightened alert, as Tropical Depression Egay continues to move northwestward and threatens the eastern section of Central and Northern Luzon.

As of 11 p.m. Saturday, Egay was located at 120 kilometers north-northeast of Virac, Catanduanes, or at 270 kilometers southeast of Casiguran, Aurora. It is still packing maximum sustained winds of 55 kilometers per hour (kph).

The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) raised late Saturday public storm signal number 1 in 18 provinces, which include Catanduanes, Albay, Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte, Polillo Island, Aurora, Quezon Province, Quirino, Nueva Vizcaya, Isabela, Cagayan, Calayan and Babuyan group of Islands, Ifugao, Mt. Province, Kalinga, Abra, Apayao and Ilocos Norte.

Egay is moving northwest at a pace of 17 kph as of 11 p.m. Saturday, threatening the Cagayan-Isabela area.

The US Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) in Hawaii expects Egay to intensify and may be capable of producing 10-feet waves.

With a wide diameter of 350 kilometers, Yumul said the storm will likely bring heavy rains to the country's eastern seaboard.

Metro Manila, Zambales, and Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon) will also have to deal with a rainy weekend due to the enhanced southwest monsoon. The wet conditions are expected to last until Tuesday in time for Egay's exit towards Taiwan.

This early, though, Yumul warned the public of another storm to visit the country this month after a low pressure area near Marianas islands is tipped to become a tropical depression.

"It could be stronger than Egay but we expect that this will not make landfall. It might go near Northern Luzon. We are monitoring the developments," he said.

Egay is expected to be at the vicinity of Tuguegarao City by Sunday evening and at 240 kilometers west northwest of Basco, Batanes by Monday evening. (Virgil Lopez/PNA/Sunnex)