MANILA, Philippines — 'Ulysses' (Vamco)—the powerful cyclone that triggered Metro Manila’s worst floods in years—has weakened into a severe tropical storm on its way out of the country’s territory.
The typhoon, the third to hit the Philippines in November and the 21st of the year, unleashed widespread flooding that brought back painful memories of the Typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana), submerged thousands of homes and forced residents to wait for rescue on their rooftops.
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Ulysses left at least 13 people dead, initial reports from the Philippine National Police showed.
PAGASA said Ulysses was last seen 415 kilometers west of Iba, Zambales with peak winds of 110 kph near the center and gusts of up to 135 kph. When it first made landfall late Wednesday in the vicinity of Patanungan town in Quezon province, it had maximum sustained winds of 150 kph and gusts of up to 205 kph.
Heading toward Vietnam at 20 kph, Ulysses is expected to leave the Philippine Area of Responsibility Friday morning.
Winds, light to heavy rain in northern Luzon
The state weather bureau said that Ulysses and the surge of northeast monsoon will continue bringing gusty conditions over Batanes, Babuyan Islands, Cordillera Administrative Region, Ilocos region, Zambales, Bataan and northern Occidental Mindoro including Lubang Island.
Residents of Batanes, Babuyan Island, northern and eastern portions of mainland Cagayan, eastern portion of Isabela, Aurora, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino and Apayao will experience moderate to heavy with at times intense rains.
Meanwhile, light to moderate with at times heavy rains will prevail over Ilocos region, the rest of Cordillera Administrative Region, the rest of Cagayan Valley, the northern portion of Quezon including Polillo Islands, Zambales and Bataan.
The combined effects of the cyclone and the surge of northeast monsoon will also bring rough to very rough seas (2.5 to 5.5 meters) over the seaboards of Batanes, Babuyan Islands Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, Pangasinan, and Zambales, the northern seaboard of mainland Cagayan, and the western seaboards of Bataan, Batangas, Occidental Mindoro (including Lubang Island), and Palawan (including Calamian and Kalayaan Islands), making sea travel risky for all types of seacrafts.
The Philippines is hit by around 20 tropical cyclones annually and is one of the countries most vulnerable to the catastrophic impacts of climate change. — Gaea Katreena Cabico