Goodbye Urduja, but possibly, ‘Hello, Vinta’
New weather disturbance, which is located east of Mindanao, will either make landfall or recurve to Japan, says Pag-asa. CCDRMO tells public to identify possible hazards in their area and remove them before strong winds and heavy rain hit.
Spare some time in the midst of your Christmas preparations to get ready for a tropical depression that’s approaching the country. Urduja has weakened and is on track to leave the Philippines by Wednesday, and all the storm signals in Central Visayas were lifted. But the weather bureau confirmed a tropical depression hovered some 2,000 kilometers from Mindanao as of Sunday.
“Please start planning now on what to do to become resilient for this new disturbance,” Nagiel Bañacia of Cebu City’s disaster risk reduction office said in a Facebook post. His suggestions include trimming tree branches that might fall on power lines or homes in rough weather.
The weather bureau lifted yesterday the storm warning signal in Cebu after tropical storm Urduja weakened.
But it also asked the public to stay prepared, as Pag-asa has tracked down another weather disturbance, which wa still in the Pacific Ocean or about 1,990 kilometers east of Mindanao.
The new tropical depression will either make a landfall or recurve to the east of Japan.
As of press time, Pag-asa Mactan Chief Al Quiblat said that Urduja was moving slowly toward northern Samar, Antique and Mindoro. Pag-asa stands for the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration.
Coast Guard (CG) Cebu Station Chief Jerome Cayabyab said that the agency cleared all vessels to sail except for MV Trans Asia 8 and a vessel in Tabuelan, which were bound for Iloilo, near Urduja’s path.
In Cebu City, Urduja left in its wake some damaged farmlands in the mountain villages.
Assistant City Agriculturist Arleigh Gesta told SunStar Cebu that vegetable farmlands in Barangays Sudlon I and II, and fields of sweetcorn in Barangays Adlaon and Taptap were damaged by strong winds and heavy downpour.
“We’re still assessing the extent of the damage, so we can’t say yet if it is alarming or minimal. But so far, those were the affected areas that were reported to us by our personnel,” he said.
As of yesterday, Gesta said there were no reports of livestock affected by the bad weather.
Daanbantayan Mayor Vicente Loot, for his part, said that the more than 4,000 people who evacuated due to Urduja have returned to their homes.
The town distributed at least 1,000 food packs to them yesterday morning, along with other assistance from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
Move ahead
“How I wish they (DSWD) will grant our request for food pack prepositioning or advance deployment so evacuees can receive assistance on time. It’s a proactive move to spare evacuees from the agony of waiting,” he said.
Loot expressed particular concern for Barangay Carnaza. “Two days of bad weather will exhaust all food packs in the island,” he said.
Baltazar Tribunalo of the Pro- vincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) said they already surveyed all areas damaged by Urduja in northern Cebu.
“We are helping the victims and at the same time improving our system of disaster risk reduction,” he said.
But even if Urduja has already weakened, the Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (CCDRRMO) urged the public to stay prepared.
“Please start planning now on what to do to become resilient for this new weather disturbance. Your plan of action must be based on the hazards and risks within your premises in case the typhoon will hit our locality,” said Nagiel Bañacia, head of the CCDRRMO.
In a Facebook post, Bañacia advised the public to identify possible hazards in their areas, and to get rid of them before strong winds and heavy rains start.
“Falling trees are dangerous. Trees can destroy houses, power lines, etc. It can prevent and slow down the response of emergency personnel and relief operations.”
Bañacia also encouraged everyone to make contingency plans among the members of the family since there are no rescue operations once the typhoon hits the locality. /