SUPER typhoon “Betty” has slowed down to typhoon category, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) Visayas on Sunday, May 28, 2023.
Alfredo Quiblat, Pagasa Visayas director, told SunStar Cebu that as of 3 a.m., the eye of the typhoon was located 825 kilometers (km) east of Northern Luzon.
He said that Betty continues its west-northwestward movement at the speed of 20 km per hour (kph), maintaining a maximum sustained wind of 175 kph and gustiness of up to 215 kph.
He also added that landfall in any of the provinces is less likely as Betty continuous to head to Batanes, and is expected to reach the country’s northern tip on Tuesday, May 30.
On Tuesday night, the typhoon will continually move northeastward away from the Philippines.
By Friday night, June 2, or Saturday morning, June 3, typhoon Betty will exit the Philippine Area of Responsibility, moving towards the south of Japan.
Habagat
Quiblat said that due to the enhanced southwest monsoon or habagat, the western part of the Visayas and other western parts of the country will still experience light to moderate rains.
On Sunday, the habagat maintained sustained winds of 55 kph and will accelerate up to 6o kph on Monday, May 29.
Quiblat added that there will be a high chance of a gale warning being raised on Monday.
Relief
Meanwhile, the Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) has prepositioned over P108 million worth of non-food relief items in its regional offices in preparation for the typhoon.
In a statement, Undersecretary Ariel Nepomuceno, Civil Defense administrator and National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) executive director, said the OCD also has a standby Quick Response Fund (QRF) for 2023 amounting to P256.2 million and a continuing QRF from last year worth P244.7 million.
He said the Department of Social Welfare and Development has a total of P2.2 billion worth of stockpile in its Central office, field offices and National Resource Operations Center.
Nepomuceno said emergency preparedness and response protocols of the NDRRMC are now activated in different parts of the country, especially those along the track of the weather system. / AML, TPM