The Philippines ordered financial markets and government offices shut today as the capital braces for Typhoon Rammasun, which killed at least two people before making landfall.
The cyclone locally, known as Glenda, intensified after hitting land at 5 p.m. yesterday in Albay province in Bicol, 450 kilometers (280 miles) south of Manila.
Packing maximum winds of 150 kilometers per hour and gusts of as high as 185 kilometers per hour, it is expected to cross the capital before noon today, according to the national weather bureau’s 11 p.m. bulletin yesterday.
The second-highest alert in a four-scale warning is up in 21 areas including Metro Manila. Government offices and schools in the capital and all areas under Signal No. 2 will be closed, except agencies involved in vital public services and disaster response, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said yesterday.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco said there won’t be trading and settlement in the currency and bond markets. The Philippine Stock Exchange will also be shut, President Hans Sicat said.
The Philippines, battered by cyclones that form over the Pacific Ocean, is the second most-at-risk nation globally from tropical storms, after Japan, according to Maplecroft, a research company based in Bath, England. Top winds projected for Rammasun can topple trees and electric posts, weather forecaster Aldczar Aurelio said yesterday.
“I reiterate, the objective has to be to minimize the casualties and the hardship of our people,” President Benigno Aquino told officials at a national disaster council meeting in Manila yesterday.
Haiyan
Super Typhoon Haiyan, the strongest storm in the world to hit land, killed more than 6,200 people in the Philippines in November and left more than a thousand missing.
Haiyan, the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane, had top winds of almost 196 miles (315 kilometers) per hour and winds gusted to as high as 235 mph, the U.S. Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. Rammasun passed very close Northern Samar, one of the provinces hardest hit by Haiyan.
A 45-year-old woman and her 18-year-old son who were gathering grass for use as cow-feed were killed on July 14 after they were struck by lightning in Batangas, a province south of Manila, the police said. Three fishermen went missing yesterday off the island province of Catanduanes.
In Albay where the storm first hit and which has been placed under a state of calamity, trees were uprooted and some homes made from light wood were damaged, Colonel Raul Farnacio, a provincial army commander said in a mobile-phone message.
Luzon
Rammasun is likely to exit the main island of Luzon this evening. It had top winds of 130 kilometers per hour and gusts of as much as 160 kilometers per hour before hitting Albay yesterday.
Rainfall may be between 7.5 to 30 millimeters per hour, which is considered moderate to intense within a 500 kilometer radius, according to the weather service.
As many as 10 typhoons may develop or enter the Philippines in the third quarter. More than 145,000 people were evacuated, at least 4,600 passengers were stranded in ports and 56 local and international flights were canceled, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said on its 7 p.m. update yesterday.
Flashfloods and landslides in low-lying and mountainous areas may be expected, while storm surges with height of as much as three meters may hit coastal areas, the weather bureau said.
The storm may bring winds stronger than storm Xangsane, which left at least 184 people dead after hitting Manila and nearby provinces in 2006, weather forecaster Rene Paciente said on July 14.
Manila Electric Co. (MER), the nation’s largest power retailer which supplies the Philippine capital and nearby provinces, warned of blackouts. The company, in a statement, said it asked billboard owners to roll their billboards up to avoid causing outages.
bloomberg.com
The cyclone locally, known as Glenda, intensified after hitting land at 5 p.m. yesterday in Albay province in Bicol, 450 kilometers (280 miles) south of Manila.
Packing maximum winds of 150 kilometers per hour and gusts of as high as 185 kilometers per hour, it is expected to cross the capital before noon today, according to the national weather bureau’s 11 p.m. bulletin yesterday.
The second-highest alert in a four-scale warning is up in 21 areas including Metro Manila. Government offices and schools in the capital and all areas under Signal No. 2 will be closed, except agencies involved in vital public services and disaster response, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said yesterday.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco said there won’t be trading and settlement in the currency and bond markets. The Philippine Stock Exchange will also be shut, President Hans Sicat said.
The Philippines, battered by cyclones that form over the Pacific Ocean, is the second most-at-risk nation globally from tropical storms, after Japan, according to Maplecroft, a research company based in Bath, England. Top winds projected for Rammasun can topple trees and electric posts, weather forecaster Aldczar Aurelio said yesterday.
“I reiterate, the objective has to be to minimize the casualties and the hardship of our people,” President Benigno Aquino told officials at a national disaster council meeting in Manila yesterday.
Haiyan
Super Typhoon Haiyan, the strongest storm in the world to hit land, killed more than 6,200 people in the Philippines in November and left more than a thousand missing.
Haiyan, the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane, had top winds of almost 196 miles (315 kilometers) per hour and winds gusted to as high as 235 mph, the U.S. Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. Rammasun passed very close Northern Samar, one of the provinces hardest hit by Haiyan.
A 45-year-old woman and her 18-year-old son who were gathering grass for use as cow-feed were killed on July 14 after they were struck by lightning in Batangas, a province south of Manila, the police said. Three fishermen went missing yesterday off the island province of Catanduanes.
In Albay where the storm first hit and which has been placed under a state of calamity, trees were uprooted and some homes made from light wood were damaged, Colonel Raul Farnacio, a provincial army commander said in a mobile-phone message.
Luzon
Rammasun is likely to exit the main island of Luzon this evening. It had top winds of 130 kilometers per hour and gusts of as much as 160 kilometers per hour before hitting Albay yesterday.
Rainfall may be between 7.5 to 30 millimeters per hour, which is considered moderate to intense within a 500 kilometer radius, according to the weather service.
As many as 10 typhoons may develop or enter the Philippines in the third quarter. More than 145,000 people were evacuated, at least 4,600 passengers were stranded in ports and 56 local and international flights were canceled, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said on its 7 p.m. update yesterday.
Flashfloods and landslides in low-lying and mountainous areas may be expected, while storm surges with height of as much as three meters may hit coastal areas, the weather bureau said.
The storm may bring winds stronger than storm Xangsane, which left at least 184 people dead after hitting Manila and nearby provinces in 2006, weather forecaster Rene Paciente said on July 14.
Manila Electric Co. (MER), the nation’s largest power retailer which supplies the Philippine capital and nearby provinces, warned of blackouts. The company, in a statement, said it asked billboard owners to roll their billboards up to avoid causing outages.
bloomberg.com
No comments:
Post a Comment