‘Urduja’ grounds planes at Tacloban airport

Flight operations have been halted at Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport in Tacloban, Leyte as Tropical Storm “Urduja” (international name: Kai-Tak) continued to inflict damage in Eastern Visayas, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) announced.

CAAP spokesman Eric Apolonio issued the advisory on Friday as Urduja continued to hammer Eastern Visayas and Caraga with scattered to widespread rains.

“Tacloban Airport landing and take-off was suspended effective 9:50 a.m. due to Tropical Storm Urduja,” Apolonio said in a text message to reporters.

In addition, two local flights bound for Legaspi, Cebu Pacific flight 5J 327 and PAL Express 2P 2921, were forced to return to Manila due to strong tail winds, according to the CAAP spokesman.

Urduja is expected to make landfall over the areas of Northern Samar and Eastern Samaron Saturday due to its slow movement, according to the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration  (Pagasa).

Moderate to heavy rainfall is expected within the tropical storm’s 500 kilometer diameter, the state weather bureau said in its 11 a.m. severe weather bulletin on Friday.

Pagasa said the storm was last tracked at 240 kilometers east of Borongan City, Eastern Samar as it moved northwest at 5 kilometers per hour.