MANILA – Typhoon Juan is tipped to pack winds of more than 200 kilometers per hour before making landfall in Aparri, Cagayan Monday morning, the state weather bureau reported Sunday.
At a press briefing, Mario Palafox, senior weather forecaster of the Philippine Atmospheric Astronomical and Services Administration (Pagasa), said the typhoon is expected to intensify because it is still too far from the landmass.
“There is a big chance that it would surpass its current wind speed because it is still in open sea and the storm gathers strength there,” he said, adding that Pagasa is not using the term super typhoon to refer to a weather disturbance that breaches the 200 kph winds.
As of 11 a.m., Pagasa said the eye of typhoon Juan is located at 490 kilometers east of Aparri, Cagayan, carrying maximum sustained winds of 195 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 230 kph.
The typhoon is still moving at a westward direction but it slightly slowed down to 22 kph from 24 kph hours ago.
With this, storm signal number 3 is hoisted in Cagayan including the Calayan and Babuyan group of islands, and Isabela.
Storm signal number 2 is raised in Batanes group of islands, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Apayao, Abra, Kalinga, Mountain Province, Ifugao, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino and Northern Aurora.
The provinces of La Union, Benguet, Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija and the rest of Aurora were placed under storm signal number 1.
The 10th storm to enter the country this year is the strongest to date as the bureau warned the public of the potential impacts of Juan’s strong winds.
Pagasa said storm signal number 3 could pose heavy damage to agriculture, uproot some large trees, make considerable damage to structures of light to medium construction and could down power lines during the onslaught.
Residents living in low lying and mountainous areas under public storm warning signals were also alerted against flashfloods and landslides, while those living in coastal are warned of storm surges reaching as high as four meters.
Robert Sawi, Pagasa’s officer-in-charge of the weather division, urged travelers to postpone their Sunday afternoon trips as the typhoon’s wrath is expected to be felt by those times.
“As per reports from the field, it is still sunny in Cagayan and Isabela. But given the storm signals raised, we can expect a stormy weather come Sunday afternoon. The residents there should not take any chances,” he said.
Sawi also asked the public to make the necessary preparations, monitor the hourly updates and watch for the next bulletin to be issued at 5 p.m. Sunday.
Junior weather forecaster Aldczar Aurelio said there is a 90 percent chance that the typhoon’s center would hit Aparri by Monday morning, consistent to the forecast models of six meteorological agencies which include the Japanese Meteorological Agency, the United States Joint Typhoon Warning Center, among others.
“We can give a rainfall estimate coming from our radar station in Aparri Sunday afternoon,” he said.
Earlier, Pagasa said the typhoon is estimated to bring between 200 to 250 millimeters of rainfall in six hours based on satellite images.
“The rains will be just concentrated on the typhoon’s circulation because the southwest monsoon is already gone that could induce rains in other areas,” said Sawi. In Metro Manila, we can only expect of cloudy skies and some rainshowers. The storm is too far to affect the metropolis.”
Typhoon Juan is expected to be at 50 kilometers east of Aparri, Cagayan by Monday morning and at 360 kilometers west of southwest of Laoag City by Tuesday morning.
The state weather bureau said the typhoon will be at 870 kilometers west southwest of Laoag City by Wednesday morning. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)