Palace tells public to stay alert amid typhoon onslaught
A Filipino woman crosses floodwaters caused by rains from Typhoon Nock-Ten in Quezon city, north of Manila, Philippines on Monday, Dec. 26, 2016. The powerful typhoon slammed into the eastern Philippines on Christmas Day, spoiling the biggest holiday in Asia’s largest Catholic nation, where a governor offered roast pig to entice villagers to abandon family celebrations for emergency shelters. AP Photo
Malacañang on Monday urged the public to “stay alert” as Typhoon “Nina” (international name: Nock-Ten) continued to pummel parts of Visayas and Southern Luzon.
“We ask the public to stay alert regarding Typhoon Nina,” Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said in a statement.
READ: Typhoon Nina threatens Metro Manila
“We advise the public to get regular updates from the PAGASA and other government websites or social media accounts,” he added.
The Palace official said the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has “activated its Response Clusters to monitor and facilitate emergency response humanitarian assistance.”
“The DSWD has a total of 39,801 Family Food Packs (FFPs) on stock at its National Resource Operations Center (NROC); of which, 18,923 FFPs are available for allocation while the 20,878 FFPs are for delivery to different Field Offices,” he said.
At 9:15 a.m., Nina made landfall over Verde island in Batangas.
The typhoon previously made landfall over Bato, Catanduanes; Sagnay, Camarines Sur; San Andres, southern Quezon; and Torrijos, Marinduque.
Nina packed maximum sustained winds of 130 kilometers per hour (kph), down from 140 kph, near the center and gusts of up to 215 kph, moving westward at 20 kph.
READ: Typhoon Nina weakens after landfall in Batangas
The typhoon was last located over the vicinity of Tingloy, Batangas.
Batangas, northern portions of Occidental and Oriental Mindoro including Lubang Islands were placed under Signal No. 3, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said.
Areas under Signal No. 2 were Metro Manila, Rizal, southern Quezon, Marinduque, Cavite, Laguna and the rest of Mindoro provinces.
Signal No. 1 was raised over the rest of Quezon including Polillo Islands, Bulacan, Pampanga, southern Zambales, Romblon, Camarines Note, Bataan and Calamian Group of Islands. IDL/rga
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