'Jose' exits; Habagat damage at P1.6M

MANILA, Philippines - Typhoon "Jose" left the Philippine Area of Responsibility on Thursday, but the southwest monsoon it enhanced caused damage to agriculture worth over P1.6 million.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said the eye of the typhoon was located at 1,010 kilometers east of Itbayat, Batanes at 10 a.m.

Earlier, the weather bureau said Jose was packing maximum sustained winds of 150 kilometers per hour (kph) near the center and gusts of up to 185 kph while moving north northeast at 11 kph.

PAGASA said the southwest monsoon or "habagat" continues to affect Northern and Central Luzon. Ilocos Region and the Batanes and Calayan Group of Island will experience occasional rains.

Metro Manila and the rest of the country will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms.

In its latest update, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said the southwest monsoon has affected 1,129 families or 3,995 people in Pangasinan.

Two people have been reported missing in the same province, identified as teenagers Ronald G. Perez and Rodnel J. Javillonar.

The NDRMMC said the weather system has damaged agricultural crops worth P1.62 million in Pangasinan, where four villages in one town remain flooded.

In Zambales, seven villages in three municipalities are also still flooded.

A total of seven roads in the Ilocos region and the Cordillera Administrative Region had been closed due to flooding and landslide or rockslide, the NDRRMC said.