Vinta makes landfall over Balabac Island

Severe Tropical Storm Vinta (international name Tembin) made landfall over Balabac, Palawan on Saturday night, weather service PAGASA reported in an 11 p.m. bulletin.

At 10 p.m., Vinta was in the vicinity of Balabac or at 285 kilometers southwest of Puerto Princesa City, Palawan. The tropical storm had sustained winds of 105 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 145 kph.

Severe Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal 2 was raised over southern Palawan, where a meter high storm surge may be experience and wher open sea wave heights would be from 4.1 to 14 meters.

Signal 1 was also raised over the rest of Palawan, where open sea wave heights between 1.25 to four meters may be experienced.

The whole of Palawan could expect scattered to widespread moderate to heavy rain, while scattered light to moderate with at times heavy rain could also be expected over the western sections of the Visayas and Mindanao.

Sea travel was risky over the seaboards of areas under storm signals, the southern seaboard of the Mindoro Provinces, and the western seaboards of the Zamboanga Peninsula, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

Given that Vinta was moving west at 23 kph, the storm was expected to be 335 kms southwest of Pagasa Island, Palawan, outside the Philippine Area of Responsibility, by Sunday evening. — DVM, GMA News