CEBU CITY, Philippines — At least 1,532 passengers were stranded in Cebu City ports after the Cebu Coast Guard Station barred the sea travel for vessels going to Eastern Visayas and Manila as well as to Northern Cebu areas due to bad weather spawned by typhoon “Nona.”
Cebu Coast Guard Commander Agapito Bibat said sea travel to Eastern Visayas and Manila was suspended as of 11 a.m. on Sunday after these areas were placed under Storm Signal No. 1.
But they also included the trips to northern Cebu – Hagnaya port in San Remegio to Bantayan Island (vice versa) and the Danao City to Camotes Island (vice versa) at 5 p.m. when the weather bureau placed the Northern Cebu under signal number 1.
Those stranded passengers were supposed to travel for Leyte and Southern Leyte, including Ormoc City, as well as the towns of Palompon, Hilongos, Bato and Baybay.
The MV St Leo The Great of the 2Go Travel was supposed to leave for Manila at noon on Sunday but was no longer cleared for sea travel because the vessel would pass through northern Cebu and Masbate, which were under Storm Signal No. 1 and the Bicol areas, which were under Storm Signal No. 2.
Sea travel for other parts of Central Visayas, including Bohol, was not affected because these were not included in the weather advisory.
Based on the 5 p.m. weather bulletin released by weather bureau, typhoon Nona was estimated to be at 440 kilometers east of Catarman, Northern Samar, as of 4 p.m. It’s maximum sustained winds reached 140 kph and gustiness, up to 170 kph. It was moving west at 19 kph.
Signal number 2 was hoisted over 7 areas: Catanduanes, Albay, Sorsogon and Ticao Island,Northern Samar, Eastern Samar and Samar in the 5 p.m. bulletin.
Signal number 1 was raised in 12 areas Southern Quezon, Marinduque, Romblon, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur and Masbate including Burias Island, Biliran, Leyte, Southern Leyte and Northern Cebu including Camotes Island, Dinagat province and Siargao Island
Areas under signal 2 especially those in coastal areas were warned of possible storm surges while the different local disaster risk reduction and management councils in different areas were advised to take precautionary measures for flashfloods and landslides. SFM