Storm signals lowered as ‘Ofel’ heads out of PH

MTSAT ENHANCED-IR Satellite Image 9 a.m., 26 October 2012

MANILA, Philippines — All public storm signals were lowered as tropical storm “Ofel” (international name Son-tinh) continued to move out of the Philippine territory, the state weather bureau said Friday.

Ofel was seen 320 kilometers west of Iba, Zambales and moving west northwest at 22 kilometers per hour, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said.

It packed maximum sustained winds of 75 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 90 kph.

Ofel will continue to bring moderate to intense rains and fishing boats and other small seacraft are still advised not to venture out into the seaboards of Northern and Central Luzon.

The storm was forecast to be 790 km west of La Union by Saturday morning.

Meanwhile, Northern and Central Luzon will experience cloudy skies with moderate to heavy rainshowers and thunderstorms, which may trigger flashfloods and landslides while Southern Luzon will be cloudy with light to moderate rainshowers and thunderstorms.

The rest of the country will be partly cloudy with brief rainshowers or thunderstorms, Pagasa said.