'Ondoy' exits RP, may be delisted

MANILA, Philippines - Tropical storm “Ondoy” slightly intensified yesterday as it continued to move farther away from the country after battering several areas in Luzon, including Metro Manila last Saturday, leaving almost 100 people dead.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), however, said the weather disturbance would still enhance the southwest monsoon and bring occasional rains over the western sections of central and southern Luzon in the next 24 hours.

Pagasa administrator Prisco Nilo said Ondoy had left the country last night.

As of 10 a.m. yesterday, the eye of Ondoy was spotted some 390 kilometers west of Iba, Zambales or over the South China Sea.

The storm is packing maximum sustained winds of 105 kilometers per hour near the center and gustiness of up to 135 kph.

Pagasa said storm signals in all areas have been canceled.

Forecast to move west-northwest at 24 kilometer per hour, Ondoy is expected to be at 570 kms west-northwest of Iba last night and at 770 kms west-northwest of Iba this morning.

The storm caused worst flooding in Metro Manila and nearby provinces in more than 42 years, according to disaster officials.

Government weather forecasters said the equivalent of one month’s worth of rain fell on Metro Manila in less than a day.

About 34.1 centimeters of rain fell on Metro Manila in just six hours, close to the 39.2-centimeter average for the entire month of September, Pagasa said.

Pagasa deputy administrator Nathaniel Cruz said the previous record was 33.4 centimeters recorded during a 24-hour period in June 1967.

Cruz said the “unusual” amount of rain brought by Ondoy last Saturday could already be a manifestation of climate change.

“It was not a significant storm in terms of wind intensity, but in terms of rainfall amount, it is abnormal,” Cruz told The STAR.

Cruz said the amount of rain triggered by Ondoy was of the same volume brought by tropical storm “Uring” in 1991 that caused a flashflood in Ormoc City, which killed thousands of people.

Cruz said the amount of rainfall in nine hours last Saturday was more than the average monthly rainfall in Metro Manila.

Ondoy may be deleted from storm codenames

There are reports that because of the destruction caused by Ondoy the storm’s name could to be deleted from the list of codenames of future typhoons that would hit the country.

Pagasa officials are studying if the codename Ondoy would be removed from the list of names of future weather disturbances.

The weather bureau had previously deleted the codename Frank after typhoon “Frank” killed almost 1,000 people including the passengers of the ill-fated M/V Princess of the Stars that sank off Sibuyan Island in Romblon at the height of the storm on June 21, 2008.

Pagasa had already registered the names of storms that will hit the country until 2016.

The list was prepared in 2000, or the year after the “Name A Bagyo Contest” was launched by the weather bureau under the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

Pagasa picked 140 codenames out of about 18,000 entries submitted.

Most of the typhoons that preceded Ondoy had not been as damaging.

Those that came ahead of Ondoy were Auring, Bising, Crising, Dante, Emong, Feria, Gorio, Huaning, Isang, Jolina, Kiko, Labuyo, Maring and Mando.

Succeeding typhoons that will visit the country this year have been named Pepeng, Quedan, Ramil, Santi, Tino, Urduja, Vinta, Wilma, Yolanda and Zoraida.

An auxiliary list of typhoons has also been prepared if the number of cyclones that will hit the country exceeds the Philippine alphabet letters: Alamid, Bruno, Conching, Dolor, Ernie, Florante, Gerardo, Hernan, Isko and Jerome.

Unlike in the past, names of Philippine typhoons are now a mix of male and female. – With Rudy Fernandez