MANILA, Philippines—Typhoon Pedring (international name: Nesat) is on its way out of the Philippines after ravaging central Luzon Tuesday, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said.
In its latest 5 p.m. weather bulletin on Tuesday, the state-run weather bureau said the eye of Pedring was spotted over the West Philippine Sea at 70 kilometers west northwest of Baguio City and moving slowly west northwest at 19 kilometers per hour.
Pedring maintained its strength with maximum winds of 120 kilometers per hour near the center and gustiness of up to 150 kilometers per hour.
Public storm warning signal No. 3 was still in effect in Ilocos Sur, La Union, Benguet and Pangasinan.
PAGASA DOST FY 2D-EIR Satellite Image for 9 p.m., 27 September 2011
Signal No. 2 was up in Ilocos Norte, Abra, Apayao, Kalinga, Mountain Province, Ifugao, Nueva Vizcaya, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac and Zambales
Metro Manila has been lowered to signal No. 1 along with Cagayan (including Babuyan and Calayan group of Islands), Isabela, Quirino, Aurora, Bulacan, Pampanga and Bataan.
Pagasa estimated the weather to gradually improve Wednesday afternoon as it leaves the Philippine area of responsibility.
No suspension of classes for Wednesday has been recommended since only light rains are expected.
However, Pagasa is not discounting the possibility of Pedring intensifying again over the sea while making its way toward Vietnam.
Dams opened
Major dams in Luzon, meanwhile, had their gates opened as the rains dumped by Pedring caused some of them to reach spilling level and in anticipation of more rains.
As of 4 p.m. Tuesday, Angat dam in Bulacan opened one gate at a height of one meter and released water at 112 cubic meters per second.
Assistant weather services chief Roy Badilla explained that the release of water from Angat dam is not likely to cause flooding in nearby municipalities because the capacity of Angat dam is 1,000 cubic meters per second.
Angat dam’s water level was recorded at 210.97 meters, or 0.97 meters over its spilling level of 210 meters, he added.
Ipo dam had three gates opened and released water at 261 cubic meters per second as of 4:25 pm. The water level in Ipo dam was at 99.80 meters, or 0.40 meters below its spilling level of 100.2 meters.
Ambuklao dam had seven gates opened at 16 meters. Its water level was recorded at 752.06 meters, or 0.06 meters above its spilling level of 752 meters.
Meanwhile, Binga dam had five gates opened at 18 meters. Its water level was recorded at 573.18 meters, or 1.82 meters below its spilling level of 575 meters.
The released water from the Ambuklao and Binga dams was not expected to affect nearby residents because it flowed downstream into the San Roque dam in Pangasinan, which was still 14.72 meters below its spilling level of 280 meters.
Magat dam in the Cagayan Valley had seven gates opened at 15 meters. Its water level was recorded at 190.07 meters, or 2.93 meters below its spilling level. No flooding was expected since the Cagayan river could accommodate the released water from Magat river.