Supertyphoon ‘Mina’ skirts Philippines

The four-day long weekend starting Saturday is going to be a wet one for much of the country and potentially devastating for northern Luzon even with Typhoon “Mina”  moving further away from the archipelago.

(Monday and Tuesday—August 29 and 30—are national holidays marking National Heroes’ Day and the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, respectively.)

Mina (international name: Nanmadol) practically sideswiped the region as it headed towards Taiwan, prompting the weather bureau Friday to declare a rare Signal No. 4 over northern Cagayan province which felt the brunt of the typhoon’s force.

Stormy weather also forced the cancellation of nine domestic flights, and also prevented the Coast Guard from pursuing a search and rescue mission for a fisherman who reportedly went missing in the waters off La Union province. Another fisherman was also reported missing in Catanduanes province.

In the Bicol region, classes have resumed but authorities ordered no letup in sandbagging activities in flood- and landslide-prone areas, especially in Albay province.

In its 5 p.m. bulletin, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said northern Cagayan got whipped by Mina’s 185-kph winds for at least 12 hours on Friday.

Signal No. 3 was raised in the neighboring province of Isabela, the rest of Cagayan, and in the Calayan, Babuyan and Batanes group of islands.

Areas placed under Signal No. 2 included northern Aurora, Quirino, Ifugao, Mountain Province, Kalinga and Apayao. Signal No. 1 covered the rest of Aurora, Nueva Vizcaya, Benguet, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte and Abra.

Forecaster Raymond Ordinario last night said Mina was expected to “pass near the tip of northern Luzon in the next 12 hours.”

“We cannot rule out that it will not make landfall,” Ordinario told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Areas not directly affected by Mina would still experience rains today due to the enhanced southwest monsoon, according to Pagasa administrator Nathaniel Servando.

The official warned residents in northern Luzon that Mina, apart from packing strong winds, could dump heavy rains at 15 to 25 millimeters per hour within the typhoon’s 600-km diameter.

Its slow movement had made it even more dangerous, Servando said.

As of 4 p.m. Friday, Mina was tracked 150 km northeast of Casiguran, Aurora, and was moving northwest at 9 kph. It had maximum sustained winds of 195 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 230 kph.

Weather division chief Robert Sawi said Mina slowed down after being “wedded” to another weather disturbance outside the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) and also because a high pressure area prevented it from moving west.

But he said Mina, though it grew stronger Friday, was already moving away from this other weather disturbance.

The 13th storm to enter the country this year, Mina may be out of the PAR by Tuesday, he added.

This afternoon, Mina is expected to be 150 km northeast of Tuguegarao, and 50 km north of Batanes province by Sunday afternoon.

Mina’s strong gale winds forced the Coast Guard to call off the search for Fred Nantes, 48, a fisherman whose motorized boat capsized off Poro Point in San Fernando City in La Union.

A local policeman, Police Officer 2 Victor Javier, said Nantes was last seen by a fellow fisherman at 2 p.m. on Wednesday.

Accurate damage reports

In Ilagan, Isabela province, disaster risk management teams convened on Friday, with Provincial Administrator Noel Manuel Lopez calling for more accurate damage reports from local governments. He said this would help them obtain a bigger share of calamity assistance from provincial and national government offices.

Lopez said some towns overestimated their damage reports and crop losses in past calamities. “Let us be honest. Let us put the exact amount. Do not put the amount of the entire house if only the roof was blown away,” he told members of the Isabela Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

The Isabela provincial police director, Senior Superintendent Jimmy Rivera Sr., said rubber boats and policemen trained to handle search-and-rescue missions have been activated.

Sandbagging

In Albay province, local disaster councils in four landslide- and flood-prone towns were advised to continue their sandbagging activities along the Bicol River Basin, even with the resumption of classes and the return of some 6,000 earlier flood evacuees to their homes.

Classes went back to normal in the towns of Oas, Libon, Polangui and Malinao, said Abundio Nunez, officer of the Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office (Apsemo).

The Office of Civil Defense (OCD)-Bicol said some 775 persons or 152 families from four barangays in Polangui town remained in temporary shelters as of Friday.

In Catanduanes province, police and Red Cross volunteers searched for Nelson Vergara, 66, a fisherman who went missing on Thursday in the waters near Minalabay Island in Baras town.

Flights canceled

Bad weather also caused the cancellation of nine domestic flights, according to the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA).

The MIAA said seven of the affected flights involved Cebu Pacific aircraft: 5J 893 (Manila-Caticlan), 5J 892 and 5J 894 (both Caticlan-Manila), 5J 508 (Manila-Tuguegarao), 5J 509 (Tuguegarao-Manila), 5J 404 (Manila-Laoag), and 5J 405 (Laoag-Manila).

Two Air Philippines flights were also canceled: 2P014 (Manila-Tuguegarao) and its return trip 2P015. With reports from AP; Yolanda Sotelo, Villamor Visaya Jr., and Cristina Arzadon, Inquirer Northern Luzon; Rey Nasol and Fernan Gianan, Inquirer Southern Luzon; and Jerry Esplanada in Manila