‘Ramon’ weakens, veers to Metro

MTSAT-EIR Satellite Image for 5 a.m., 13 October 2011

Tropical depression “Ramon” changed direction from west northwest to northwest over southern Luzon at mid-afternoon Wednesday, prompting the weather bureau to raise Storm Signal No. 1 over Metro Manila, Cavite, Laguna and Batangas.

The metropolitan region will be caught within the “outer circulation” of the depression, according to Nathaniel Servando, the administrator of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa).

“We should expect rains and gusty winds,” Servando told a press briefing Wednesday.

By 11 p.m. Wednesday, Signal No. 1 had been raised over Metro Manila, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Marinduque, Mindoro provinces including Lubang Island, Romblon, southern Quezon, northern Palawan including the Calamian group, Bataan, southern Zambales; and Aklan and Antique in the Visayas.

Under threat

Pagasa forecast 5 millimeters to 25 millimeters of rainfall and 45 to 60 kilometers per hour of winds over these areas between Wednesday night and Thursday.

The Romblon group of islands and Mindoro are under immediate threat from Ramon, which was downgraded to a tropical depression after making landfall in Sogod, Southern Leyte, early Wednesday, said Pagasa.

“Everybody should be prepared,” said Supervising Undersecretary Graciano Yumul.

A small scale miner who was buried alive Tuesday in a landslide in Butuan City has brought to five the deaths attributed to Ramon.

The body of 20-year-old Daryll Gales was recovered early Wednesday inside a collapsed mining tunnel in Barangay (village) Manila de Bugabus in Sta. Cruz, Butuan City.

Earlier Tuesday, four schoolchildren, three of whom were siblings, drowned on their way home while crossing a rampaging river in Barotac Viejo, Iloilo, amid heavy rains.

Benito Ramos, executive director of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, nevertheless said he expects “very minimal” casualties and destruction from Ramon, especially since the storm had weakened into a depression.

After hitting land in Southern Leyte at around 6 a.m. Wednesday, Ramon was forecast to sweep over parts of the Visayas and Southern Luzon, bringing rain and gusts of wind up to 60 kilometers per hour, while swirling toward Mindoro.

At 10 p.m. Wednesday, Ramon was packing maximum winds of 55 kph, and had slowed down to 13 kph. It is forecast to be out of the Philippine area of responsibility by Friday night.

According to senior weather specialist Rene Paciente, Metro Manila will experience moderate to heavy rainfall, but less of the strong winds.

He said a high pressure area north of Luzon had caused the depression to change direction.

Earlier Wednesday, Pagasa had said that Ramon, with its track of west northwest, would not affect the metropolis.

Now a depression

Even as it weakened into a depression, the rains that Ramon brought still resulted in landslides and flooding in some places in the Visayas.

One person died in Cordova town, Cebu, on Tuesday, another was injured in Ivisan town, Capiz, on Wednesday, while a 13-year-old boy went missing in Bacolod City Wednesday.

In Bacolod City, a 13-year-old boy identified as Louie Mañague fell into the Mandalagan River while playing shortly before 1 p.m. Wednesday.

The Office of Civil Defense (OCD-8) in Southern Leyte said there were landslides in barangays Pancho Villa and Ulisihan, Sogod town, on Tuesday evening.

More than 5,700 passengers were stranded in various ports in at least 18 provinces, the Philippine Coast Guard reported Wednesday.

Grounded

PCG commandant Admiral Ramon Liwag said that as of 12 noon Wednesday, 75 ships, carrying 39 buses and 304 rolling cargoes, were prevented from leaving port.

Passenger vessels in the Calabarzon and Mimaropa regions were expected to remain unable to leave port yesterday as Ramon continued its northwesterly coast.

Cebu Pacific, Air Philippines, Philippine Airlines and Zest Air cancelled at least 44 flights, to and from various Visayan destinations, because of bad weather.

The NDRRMC’s Ramos said it helped a lot that residents in low-lying areas affected by the storm voluntarily moved to higher ground before Ramon hit.

“I am satisfied with the reaction of our people especially in eastern Mindanao and northern Mindanao and in Leyte. There was no order yet for a preemptive evacuation but the people have volunteered to evacuate,” he said.

The NDRRMC reported that 373 families, or 1,700 persons, were displaced in nine barangays in six municipalities and two cities in Central Visayas, Northern Mindanao, Socsargen and the Caraga region. With reports from Franklin A. Caliguid, Inquirer Mindanao, Jani Arnaiz, Nestor Burgos Jr., Jhunnex Napallacan, Rachel Arnaiz, Joey Gabieta, Felipe Celino and Carla Gomez, Inquirer Visayas, and Mar Arguelles, Rey M. Nasol and Jerome Balinton, Inquirer Southern Luzon