PAGASA: Cloudy, windy on weekend

CEBU, Philippines - A tropical cyclone with international name “Mekkhala” has intensified into tropical storm as it nears Philippine Area of Responsibility.

Once inside PAR, it will be known locally as “Amang.” Mekkhala is a local term in Thailand which means angel of thunder.

In his special forecast for Cebu, Tacloban and Palo, PAGASA Visayas director Oscar Tabada said it will continue to be cloudy and windy especially over the weekend when Pope Francis is set to officiate a Mass and meet with calamity survivors.

Tabada was directed to issue daily special weather bulletin for the Sinulog Festival in Cebu and for the Papal visit in Tacloban and Palo in Leyte.

Based on the 5 p.m. advisory yesterday, Eastern Visayas region and CARAGA region will experience cloudy skies with light to moderate rains.

Remainder of Visayas, including Cebu and Central Visayas, and Mindanao will likewise experience partly cloudy and cloudy skies with isolated rains plus thunderstorms.

As dry run for the Fiesta Senyor Fluvial Procession is done early this morning, moderate to strong winds will prevail over Visayan seaboard.

Meanwhile, the Department of Environment and Natural Resour-ces has reiterated its call to all local government units and the communities to seriously implement the “no habitation” rule in critical and permanent danger zones identified by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau to mitigate the effects of flashfloods and landslides.

The magnitude of destruction following the onslaught of typhoon “Seniang” should be a wake up situation for the LGUs to make a careful review and revisit the geohazard maps provided by the MGB, said MGB 7 regional director Loreto Alburo.

The “no habitation” policy includes areas which have been gravely affected by typhoon “Seniang.”

Following a warning issued by the weather bureau on the magnitude of rains as a result of a low pressure area spotted more than 1,000 kilometers away from PAR, the MGB 7 restated its geohazards threat advisories yesterday (January 14) to the four governors, 16 city mayors, and 116 municipal mayors in region 7.

In a letter-advisory signed by Alburo yesterday, he strongly urged the local chief executives to take whatever means necessary to keep the communities away from harm as the LPA approaches.

“The rains that we experience now may intensify as the LPA comes over the weekend and we really have to be prepared at all times,” said DENR 7 regional director Dr. Isabelo Montejo.

He said the MGB has distributed to LGUs, down to the 3,003 barangays in four provinces in Central Visayas geohazard maps with a scale of 1:50,000 and other information, education and communication materials like posters and compact discs.

“The said maps can also be viewed and downloaded free of charge on the websites of the DENR (www.denr.gov.ph), the MGB (www.mgb.gov.ph),  the   Philippine Information Agency (www.pia.gov.ph),  and the Environmental Science for Social Change (www.essc.org.ph),” Montejo added.

On the MGB geohazard maps, landslide-prone areas are marked red and flood-prone areas are marked purple.

For this year, the MGB 7 aims to complete the geohazards assessment and mapping which is supportive to the Philippine Development Plan.

Montejo said strong political will among the local chief executives to enforce on those areas that have been identified as critical zones should remain to be inhabited.

“We should not be complacent as we are calling everyone to be “overprepared” as we don’t want to see casualties,” Montejo said.  — (FREEMAN)