Odette causes torrential, heavy rains in Mindanao; showers to continue Friday

MANILA, Philippines — Torrential and heavy rains were observed in several areas in Mindanao just for the last six hours, as Typhoon Odette moved across the region on Thursday afternoon.

According to Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) senior weather specialist Chris Perez, the station in Malaybalay, Bukidnon, registered 99 millimeters (mm) worth of rainfall in the past six hours, placing it under the category of torrential rains.

Surigao City also registered 73 mm of rains, which means that area along with Butuan City in Agusan del Norte, Hinatuan in Surigao del Sur, as well as Maasin City in Leyte, experienced heavy rainfall.

“Simula po kaninang umaga, ‘yong monitoring natin ng rainfall dito sa ilang station natin sa Southern Luzon at Visayas, at maging dito sa may bandang Mindanao area, mapapansin natin no, in a span of six hours, may mga lugar na naka-ranas talaga ng heavy hanggang torrential rains,” Perez said.

(Since this morning, our monitoring of the rainfall in some of the stations at Southern Luzon at Visayas, at even here in the Mindanao area, we can observe that in a span of six hours, there are areas which have really experienced heavy up to torrential rains.)

“Pansinin naman natin sa may bandang Mindanao no, torrential rains naranasan sa Malaybalay, Bukidnon, mga heavy rains sa ilang bahagi pa ng Mindanao.  So patunay lamang na talagang ‘yong inaasahan natin na maraming dalang paulan itong si Odette ay nararanasan na sa mga lugar na nabanggit natin, bukod pa dyan ‘yong mga malalakas na hangin,” he added.

(Let’s take a look at Mindanao, we can see that Malaybalay has experienced torrential rains while other parts of Mindanao felt heavy rains.  So this only proves that Odette, as we have predicted, really brought a lot of rainfall to areas we mentioned, aside from the strong winds it generated.)

Perez said that the heavy to torrential rain are still be expected from Thursday night to Friday morning over Caraga Region, Central Visayas, Misamis Oriental, Camiguin, Southern Leyte, and Negros Occidental.

Moderate to heavy rains meanwhile would persist over Leyte, southern portions of Eastern Samar and Samar provinces, Zamboanga del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Davao Oriental, Davao de Oro, Davao del Norte, and the rest of Mindanao.

Light to moderate rains on the other hand may be felt over Bicol Region, Quezon province, the rest of Visayas, the rest of the Zamboanga Peninsula, and Bangsamoro.

From Friday morning to early Saturday morning, or when Odette starts making slight northward nudge, heavy to intense rains with at times torrential rains will prevail over Central Visayas, Western Visayas, and Palawan and its neighboring islands.

Meanwhile moderate to heavy rains will be felt in Bicol Region, Zamboanga, Quezon, Occidental Mindoro, Romblon, Marinduque, Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, and the rest of Visayas.

Updates from the Pagasa showed that Odette’s eye was seen over Liloan town of Southern Leyte as of 4:50 p.m. — its third landfall after Siargao Islands, Surigao del Norte, and after Cagdianao, Dinagat Islands.

Pagasa said that Odette may make more landfalls in the coming hours, especially over the southern portion of Southern Leyte.

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JPV