PAGASA monitoring tropical storm Maria

MANILA, Philippines — A tropical storm with international name Maria has intensified into a severe tropical storm, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said yesterday.

PAGASA said it is monitoring Maria, which was spotted 2,210 kilometers east of the Visayas and later at 2,070 km east of southern Luzon, outside the Philippine area of responsibility.

“With maximum sustained winds of 90 kilometers per hour and gustiness of up to 115 kph, the tropical storm is expected to move west northwest at 15 kph,” PAGASA said in its 4 p.m. bulletin.

PAGASA said Maria, which will be given the local name Gardo, has no direct effect on any part of the country at the moment.

Maria is not expected to make landfall over any part of the country but PAGASA weather forecaster Samuel Duran said it may enhance the southwest monsoon, “which may bring scattered light to moderate with at times heavy rains over Western Visayas, Zamboanga peninsula, Mindoro and Palawan in the next 48 hours.”

Residents of these areas, especially those living in low-lying and in mountainous areas, are alerted against possible flooding and landslides resulting from heavy rains.

Meanwhile, Metro Manila and the rest of the country will experience partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers because of localized thunderstorms.