'Ulysses' now a tropical storm, seen to hit Bicol-Quezon area

MANILA, Philippines — Tropical Depression Ulysses has intensified into a tropical storm and could make landfall over the area of Bicol Region-Quezon by Thursday, PAGASA said. 

The weather bureau in its 5 p.m. bulletin said Ulysses was last seen at 575 km east of Borongan City in Eastern Samar. 

It now has the strength of 65 kph maximum sustained winds and gusts of up to 80 kph, moving northwestward at a speed of 15 kph. 

PAGASA added that the tropical storm may intensify into a severe tropical storm in the next 24 hours and could develop into a full-blown typhoon by Wednesday.

No areas are placed so far under storm warning signals, but the agency said light to moderate with occasional heavy rains are expected over Eastern Visayas, Bicol Region and Quezon due to Ulysses' extension. 

Cagayan including Babuyan Islands, Apayao and Ilocos Norte meanwhile, will see moderate to heavy rains due to the tail-end of a cold front. 

Ulysses' possible landfall over Bicol and Quezon comes at the heels of then super typhoon "Rolly" (international name Goni) wrecking havoc early this month. 

Casualties from Rolly's four landfalls are now at 24 per latest report of disaster officials, with over 1.6 million individuals in total affected. 

Damage to properties are also now at P11.3 billion, with Bicol sustaining the most of the cost at nearly P10.7 billion. 

Ulysses is only one out of the three more storms PAGASA is expecting to hit the Philippines this month, where government's disaster response had been affected by its fight against the coronavirus pandemic. 

The new tropical storm will bring rough to very rough seas with wave height reaching 2.8 to 4.5 meters over the seaboards of Northern Luzon, eastern seaboard of Central Luzon, as well as the eastern and western seaboards of Southern Luzon. 

Moderate to rough seas will also prevail over the rest of the seaboards in Luzon and the eastern seaboard of Mindanao. 

Forecast Positions:

• Tuesday afternoon: 555 km East of Daet, Camarines Norte 
• Wednesday afternoon: 320 km East of Infanta, Quezon
• Thursday afternoon: 130 km West of Pasay City, Metro Manila 
• Friday afternoon: 660 km West of Pasay City, Metro Manila
• Saturday afternoon:1,010 km West of Southern Luzon — Christian Deiparine