Lawin now a super typhoon; lightning kills 1 in Bogo

TROPICAL storm “Lawin”  has turned into a super typhoon, said the  US Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

However, it will not directly  strike the Philippines.

Al Quiblat, weather forecaster of the Pagasa Mactan station, said  Lawin will not directly affect  the country, but would intensify the southwest monsoon that causes cloudiness and rains at anytime in the whole Visayas and Mindanao and parts of Luzon.

A 31-year-old woman  in Bogo City died after lighting struck her yesterday morning.

Jessie Ehem Sam was picking shells in the shore along barangay San Vicente  in Bogo City when she was hit by a lightning bolt  past 6 a.m.

She was declared dead on arrival at  the Severo Veralio Memorial Hospital, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council.

In Zamboanga City, a  5-year-old boy was killed in his sleep after a tree fell on his family’s house in  Labuan village  past 2 a.m.  yesterday.

Supertyphoon Lawin (International codename: Jelawat)  was last spotted 405 kilometers east of Virac, Catanduanes, with 185 to 220  kilometer per hour winds. It is moving north northwest at 7 kph.

Today,  Lawin is expected to be 640 km east of Infanta, Quezon, and by Wednesday morning, 530 km east of Tuguegarao City.

On Thursday morning, the typhoon is forecast to be 430 km east of Calayan Island.

Pagasa issued a gale warning for “strong to gale force wind”  in the Northern, Eastern and Southern of Luzon and the seaboards of Visayas and Mindanao.

Fishing boats and other small seacrafts should not go out to sea while larger sea vessels are alerted against big waves.

Despite its strength, all storm signals in the Philippines were lifted by Pagasa.

Flooding

Meanwhile, in Zamboanga City, flooding forced 200 families in one village  to flee to higher ground and classes to be suspended in other areas following continuous rain since Sunday afternoon.

Chief Inspector Joey Tutuh, chief of the Vitali District Police, barangay Vitali, said evacuees were brought to the Catholic church.

In some areas, the floodwater reached the roofs of houses, he added.  The police station was also flooded.

Mayor Celso Lobregat  ordered the suspension of classes in 12 affected barangays.

Strong  waves sent adrift a cargo barge owned by Tawi-Tawi Governor Sadikul Sahali and caused it to hit at least 15 houses along the mini-wharf in Barangay Mariki early Monday morning.

No one was reported hurt in the incident but around 30 families were rendered homeless. /Reports from Fe Marie D. Dumaboc and Inquirer