Typhoon ‘Jose’ moves away from PH

MANILA, Philippines—Heavy monsoon rains over Metro Manila and surrounding provinces abated Wednesday as Typhoon Jose (international name: Halong) continued to move away, six days after it entered the country’s so-called area of responsibility.

The typhoon maintained its northward course toward Japan and was expected to be outside the Philippine area of responsibility by early Thursday.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the eye of the typhoon was located more than 800 kilometers east northeast of Basco, Batanes, with sustained winds of 150 kilometers per hour near the center gusting up to 185 kph.

While no public storm warnings have been raised since Saturday, the typhoon enhanced the southwest monsoon over Luzon, triggering heavy rains over Metro Manila and surrounding provinces since the start of the week.

Due to the prevailing southwest monsoon on Thursday the Ilocos region and Zambales province are expected to experience monsoon rains, which may trigger flashfloods and landslides, the state weather bureau said.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration forecast occasional rains over Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon.

It said Visayas and Mindanao would be partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated rainshowers and thunderstorms.