More than 3,000 passengers stranded in Bicol ports due to ‘Dodong’

LEGAZPI CITY—Stranded passengers have reached 3,135 shortly before noontime Friday as the Philippine Coast Guard issued a “no sailing order” in ports in Sorsogon, Albay and Masbate after the state weather bureau raised public storm warning signal number 1 in these provinces in the wake of typhoon “Dodong” (international name: Noul).

Rachelle Miranda, public information officer of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD)-Bicol, said that in Sorsogon, there were 2,262 passengers stranded, 859 in Albay and 14 in Masbate.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said that as of 10 a.m., Dodong was spotted 480 kilometers east northeast of Borongan, Eastern Samar. It has maximum sustained winds of 150 kilometers per hour (kph) near the center and gustiness of up to 185 kph and moving west northwest at 17 kph.

Signal No. 1 has been raised in the Bicol provinces of Catanduanes, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Albay and Sorsogon, Polillo Island in Quezon and Northern Samar.

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