MANILA -- Tropical Storm “Gorio” has maintained its strength, moving in a west northwest direction at 24 kilometers per hour (kph) and is forecasted to hit northwest of Metro Manila Sunday evening.
The weather bureau has located Gorio 60 km northeast of Calapan, Oriental Mindoro and placed 32 areas in the Philippines under storm signal.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) hoisted storm warning signal 2 over Metro Manila, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Zambales, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Bulacan, Rizal, Bataan, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Mindoro Provinces including Lubang Island, Romblon Marinduque, Quezon Province, Camarines Provinces, Albay and Burias Island.
Source: http://noah.dost.gov.ph/
These areas will experience winds of 61-100 kph in at least 24 hours.
There will be moderate damage to agriculture, but rice and corn will be adversely affected. Few large trees will be uprooted while few large numbers of nipa and cogon houses partially or totally unroofed while some old galvanized iron roofing may roll off. Travel by all types of sea vessels and aircrafts is risky.
Storm warning signal 1 was raised over La Union, Benguet, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino, Aurora, Polillo Island, Catanduanes, Sorsogon, Masbate including Ticao Island, Coron and Calamian Group of Islands, Capiz, Aklan and Antique.
Gorio made its landfall in Hernani, Eastern Samar on Saturday morning and a second landfall at Sorsogon around 3 p.m. Saturday.
In its weather advisory, Pagasa said the rest of the county will be cloudy with light to moderate rainshowers and thunderstorms.
The suspension of travel in the affected areas caused more than 10,000 people stranded in various airports, sea and land terminals.
According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRMMC) the number of persons stranded caused by Tropical Storm “Gorio” has already hit the 10,064 mark.
The stranded people are from Central Visayas, Southern Luzon, Bicol, Northern Mindanao and Eastern Visayas.
The NDRRMC said 83 vessels, 1,031 rolling cargoes and 21 motor “bancas” were also stranded.
Of the 10,064 stranded passengers, 2,604 were from Southern Luzon, 2,949 from Bicol, 99 from Northern Mindanao, and 2,628 from Eastern Visayas.
Meanwhile, at least 23 flights of four airline companies were canceled due to bad weather, including those of Philippine Airlines Express, Cebu Pacific, Zest Air and South East Asian Airlines.
Malacañang, meanwhile, readied P6.9-million worth of emergency relief resources with the entry of “Gorio.”
Deputy Presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the government started assessing preparedness of these areas with the entry of the new storm.
In Eastern Visayas, Valte said Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) activated its Quick Response Teams.
DSWD’s field offices will be open 24 hours, Valte said, adding repacking of family food packs also started.
DSWD readied 1,040 family food packs and P263,920 standby funds including other food items amounting to P1.7 million.
There is also an available standby fund of P270,350 for non-food items in Eastern Visayas.
In the Caraga Region, local disaster councils have been activated, she said.
There are 2,000 family food packs available in case of emergency and a standby fund amounting to P300,440.
There is a separate P1,042,000 for other food items and P2.7 million for non-food items, she said.
All in all, the total prepositioned food packs, standby funds and other food items and non-food items for the two regions amount to P6.9 million, she said.
On the flooding in some parts of Mindanao, particularly North Cotabato, Valte said the government continues to mobilize its resources to help affected communities.
“Yung sa North Cotabato, patuloy ang pagtulong natin sa kanila by way of emergency relief resources. Kasama dito yung standard na mga family food packs at pagtulong doon sa mga naapektuhan ng bagyo na nasa loob ng evacuation centers,” she said.
“On-going naman ang mga assets natin when it comes to search and rescue. That is standard already kapag hinihingan ng tulong ay nagpapadala tayo agad,” she added. (Sunnex)