MANILA, Philippines - Tropical storm “Nonoy” (international name Kulap) entered the Philippine area of responsibility yesterday but is not expected to hit the country directly, the weather bureau said.
Nathaniel Servando, administrator of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), said the storm was expected to leave the country yesterday.
As of 4 p.m., the center of Nonoy was spotted at 1,140 kilometers east northeast of Basco, Batanes or 500 kms east of Okinawa, Japan with maximum sustained winds of 65 kilometers per hour (kph) near the center and gustiness of up to 80 kph. It is expected to move northwest at 15 kph.
Nonoy is predicted to be 1,110 kms northeast of Basco or 420 kms east of Okinawa this morning.
No storm warning signals have been raised in any part of the country as of yesterday afternoon.
“Nonoy is expected to exit the Philippine area of responsibility within the next six hours and move to southern Japan. It is too far to enhance the southwest monsoon,” Servando told The STAR.
No other weather disturbances were monitored by PAGASA yesterday.
Metro Manila will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with rainshowers and thunderstorms in the afternoon or evening due to the monsoon trough.
The intertropical convergence zone, on the other hand, will affect Visayas and Mindanao, bringing mostly cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms over these areas.
PAGASA also warned residents of Southern Luzon and Eastern Visayas of flashfloods and landslides.
Five domestic flights were cancelled because of inclement weather. Cancelled were Cebu Pacific flights 5J 894 from Caticlan to Manila and 5J 323/324 from Manila to Calabayog and Airphil Express flights 2P091/092 from Manila to Calbayog.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) had issued a typhoon warning to residents living in disaster-prone areas in Northern Luzon as Nonoy entered the country.
Thousands of residents in the provinces of Cagayan Valley, Ilocos region and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) are still reeling from the destruction caused by typhoon “Mina” several weeks ago. – With Rudy Santos, Jaime Laude