THE state weather bureau’s station in Mactan, Cebu has advised the public, including the people living in prone areas, to prepare for Tropical Storm Auring, which is expected to bring 50 to 100 millimeters of rainfall in Cebu and other parts of Visayas over the weekend.
Flooding is expected as every one millimeter (mm) of rain is equivalent to 5,000 drums or barrels of rain per square kilometer.
The disaster management offices of Mandaue City, Medellin town and Cebu Province have started to prepare for the impact of Auring.
Jhomer Eclarino, weather specialist at the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) Mactan, said Auring was expected to intensify into a severe tropical storm before it makes its first landfall in Caraga by Saturday evening, Feb. 20, 2021 or Sunday morning, Feb. 21.
Aside from flooding that some parts of Cebu experienced last December, Eclarino said Auring could cause landslides in prone areas.
On Dec. 2, 2020, one man drowned in Danao City, Cebu and hundreds of families were evacuated after rains caused rivers to overflow and inundate communities in Danao City and the towns of Tuburan, Asturias, Balamban and Compostela. During this time, Pagasa Mactan recorded 36 mm of rainfall in its station in Lapu-Lapu City.
Eclarino said Auring was expected to hit portions of the Visayas, particularly, Cebu, Southern Leyte, the northern portion of Negros and Panay Island on Sunday morning and exit on Monday morning.
Eclarino said the earliest the Pagasa could issue a tropical cyclone warning signal (TCWS) 1 in Central Visayas is Friday afternoon or evening.
The highest possible TCWS that would be raised in Cebu is signal no. 2. The Pagasa forecast to raise signal no. 2 in central and northern Cebu.
Cebu will be cloudy on Friday, Feb. 19. But the province will start seeing light to moderate occasional heavy rains by Saturday morning.
Eclarino said the critical period would start in the evening of Saturday, Feb. 20 and this would last throughout Sunday, Feb. 21.
“We can experience moderate to heavy and, at times, intense or strong rainfall over all parts of the Visayas, including Cebu,” he said.