PAENG (Nalgae), which intensified into a severe tropical storm early Saturday, October 29, 2022, has crossed the Bondoc Peninsula in southern Quezon after making at least three landfalls.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said in its 8 a.m. Saturday bulletin that Paeng’s center was located over the coastal waters of Catanauan, Quezon as of 7 a.m.
The storm was packing maximum winds of 95 kilometers per hour (km/h) near its center, gusts of up to 160 km/h, and central pressure of 985 hPa while moving west northwestward at 30 km/h.
Pagasa said Paeng made its first landfall in Virac, Catanduanes at 1:10 a.m. Saturday, then made another landfall in Caramoan, Camarines Sur at 1:40 a.m. Its third landfall was in Buenavista, Quezon at 6 a.m. Saturday.
Pagasa said Paeng was forecast to track westward in the short term before moving west northwestward through Sunday across Luzon.
Based on the forecast track, the center of the severe tropical storm will pass close or make landfall another landfall, this time in the vicinity of Marinduque Saturday morning before traversing the Calabarzon-Metro Manila-Bataan Peninsula area for the remainder of the day through early morning Sunday, October 30.
Southward shift in the forecast track of Paeng is possible in the succeeding bulletins, Pagasa added.
It also said that frictional effects associated with interaction with the Luzon landmass may result in weakening into a tropical storm within 24 hours, possibly earlier, but Paeng may re-intensify into a severe tropical storm once it reaches the West Philippine Sea.
As of 8 a.m., several places in Luzon have been placed under Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal (TCWS) Number 3. These include Camarines Norte, the western portion of Camarines Sur (Del Gallego, Ragay, Lupi, Sipocot, Cabusao, Pasacao, Libmanan, Pamplona), Marinduque, Quezon including Pollilo Islands, Laguna, Batangas, Cavite, Metro Manila, and Rizal.
TCWS 2 was hoisted over Catanduanes, Albay, the western portion of Sorsogon (Pilar, Castilla, Donsol), the western portion of Masbate (Aroroy, Baleno, Mandaon) including Burias Island, the southern portion of Aurora (San Luis, Baler, Dingalan, Maria Aurora), Bulacan, Pampanga, Bataan, Tarlac, Zambales, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, the rest of Camarines Sur, Romblon, Oriental Mindoro, and Occidental Mindoro including Lubang Islands.
TCWS 1 was raised over Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino, Kalinga, Ifugao, Mountain Province, Benguet, Ilocos Sur, La Union, the rest of Aurora, the rest of Sorsogon, the rest of Masbate including Ticao Island, and the northern portion of Palawan (El Nido, Taytay, Dumaran, Araceli, Roxas, San Vicente) including Calamian and Cuyo Islands in Luzon; and Northern Samar, Samar, Eastern Samar, Biliran, Leyte, Southern Leyte, Cebu including Bantayan and Camotes Islands, Bohol, Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, Guimaras, Aklan, Antique, Capiz, and Iloilo in the Visayas.
Pagasa said that under the influence of the surge of the Northeast Monsoon and Paeng, a marine gale warning remains in effect over the seaboards of Luzon and Visayas and the eastern seaboard of Mindanao. (LMY)