‘Gorio’ may bring more...
PAGASA estimated the location of Gorio at 615 kilometers (km) east of Casiguran, Aurora, around 3 p.m. Wednesday.
It has maximum sustained winds of 75 kilometers per hour (kph) and gustiness of up to 90 kph. It is moving north away from the country at 13 kph.
Weather forecaster Obet Badrina said the eye of the storm is too far from the land but its outer rain bands were bringing light to moderate rains over the eastern sections of Luzon and Visayas.
Gorio has a slim chance of making landfall over any part of the country. So far, no tropical cyclone warning signals were raised.
The cyclone may not intensify further into a typhoon but Badrina warned the public to remain on alert for possible floods or landslides due to the southwest monsoon.
Gorio is continuously enhancing the southwest monsoon or habagat, bringing moderate to occasionally heavy rains over Western Visayas and the western part of Luzon, including Metro Manila.
“As Gorio continues to move north, it will also continue to pull the southwest monsoon inland that will bring rains over a huge portion of Luzon until the weekend,” Badrina said.
Once another cyclone named “Sonca” off West Philippine Sea or outside the country’s area of responsibility dissipates, Badrina said Gorio will reinforce the southwest monsoon, thus more rains will be felt in Luzon.
Today, monsoon rains will persist and will likely affect Metro Manila, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, Pangasinan, Abra, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga, Mountain Province, Apayao, Aurora, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac, Zambales, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, Quezon, Oriental Mindoro, Occidental Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, and Palawan.
Cloudy with light to moderate rains and thunderstorms will be experienced over Batanes, Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino, Albay, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Sorsogon, Catanduanes, Masbate, and Visayas
Meanwhile, cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rain showers or thunderstorm will prevail over the rest of the country.
Should it maintain its current speed and track, Gorio will be outside the country’s area of responsibility by Sunday (July 30).
This morning, Gorio is forecast at 595 km east of Tuguegarao City, Cagayan, and by Friday morning at 425 km east of Basco, Batanes.
By Saturday morning, the weather disturbance will be 275 km northeast of Basco, and by Sunday morning at 475 km north-northeast of Basco.
Because of the rains, classes were suspended in several areas.
Classes in all levels in the provinces of Cavite and Bataan were suspended.
In Rodriguez, Rizal, classes from pre-school to senior high school, both public and private, were also suspended.
The city governments of Manila and Quezon City announced on Twitter that afternoon classes from pre-school to high school in both public and private schools have been suspended.
Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada suspended classes upon the recommendation of Manila Schools Superintendent Dr. Wilfredo Cabral. (With reports from PNA and Jaimie Rose R. Aberia)