AT LEAST 16 areas in the country have been placed on Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal (TCWS) Number 1 as Typhoon Ompong (Mangkhut) slightly accelerated while maintaining its strength Thursday morning, September 13.
TCWS Number 1 has been hoisted over Cagayan, Isabela, Kalinga, Mt. Province, Ifugao, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino, Aurora, Quezon including Polillo Island, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Albay, Sorsogon, Catanduanes, and Burias and Ticao Islands, and Northern Samar.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said Ompong continues to threaten northern Luzon and is expected to make landfall in the northern tip of Cagayan on Saturday morning, September 15.
As of 4 a.m. Thursday, September 13, the eye of the typhoon was located at 855 kilometers east of Virac, Catanduanes, wiith maximum sustained winds of up to 205 kilometers per hour (km/h) near the center and gusts of up to 255 km/h.
The typhoon is moving west at 30 km/h, said Pagasa.
"Occasional rains with gusty winds will be experienced over the areas under TCWS Number 1," the weather bureau added.
Pagasa also advised fisherfolk and those with small seacrafts not to venture out over the seaboards of areas under TCWS Number 1, the northern seaboard of northern Luzon, and the eastern seaboards of Visayas and of Mindanao.
Pagasa said Ompong is expected to be at 645 kilometers east of Casiguran, Aurora, by Friday morning, September 14, and 155 kilometers east of Tuguegarao City, Cagayan by Saturday morning, September 15. (LMY/SunStar Philippines)