Typhoon Glenda makes landfall in Albay

(UPDATED 8:12 P.M.) Tens of thousands of people in the Philippines sheltered in evacuation centres on Tuesday as a typhoon began to pound its eastern coast, with authorities warning of giant storm surges and heavy floods.
 

"We are preparing for the worst," said Rafaelito Alejandro, civil defence chief of Bicol, an impoverished farming and fishing region of 5.4 million people.


Shortly after 5 p.m. Tuesday, I M Ready re-shared Project NOAH's map of Glenda's path as it hit land:

 

State weather agency PAGASA said that as of 5 p.m., Glenda was over Albay Gulf as it approached Legazpi City.

 

PAGASA said that as of 4 p.m., Glenda was estimated at 60 km east of Legazpi City, Albay.

 

It packed maximum sustained winds of 130 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 160 kph and is forecast to move west-northwest at 19 kph.

 

Radio dzBB's Sam Nielsen reported Glenda may make landfall over Albay between 6 and 8 p.m., then cross Bicol towards Southern Luzon.

 

Glenda may pass Metro Manila before noon Wednesday and be in the vicinity of Bataan in the afternoon and will move towards the West Philippine Sea.

 

By Thursday afternoon, it will be at 370 km West of Sinait, Ilocos Sur, outside the Philippine Area of Responsibility.

 

Storm signals

 

Under Storm Signal No. 3 are:

Catanduanes, Albay, Sorsogon, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Masbate, Quezon including Polillo Islands, Marinduque, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Northern Samar, northern part of Samar, and northern part of Eastern Samar

 

Under Storm Signal No. 2 are:

Southern Aurora, Cavite, Bulacan, Pampanga, Bataan, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Zambales, Lubang Island, Oriental Mindoro, Romblon, Biliran, rest of Samar, rest of Eastern Samar, northern part of Leyte, and Metro Manila

 

Under Storm Signal No. 1 are:

Northern Aurora, Quirino, Nueva Vizcaya, Benguet, La Union, Occidental Mindoro, rest of Leyte, Southern Leyte, and Northern Cebu including Cebu City and Camotes Islands.

 

PAGASA reminded residents in low-lying and mountainous areas under storm signals to be alert against possible flash floods and landslides.

 

It also reminded those living in coastal areas under signals 2 and 3 to be alert against storm surges of up to 3 meters.

 

Glenda may bring rainfall of 7.5 to 20.0 mm per hour (moderate to intense) within its 500-km diameter.

 

PAGASA also warned fishing boats and other small seacrafts against venturing out into the eastern seaboards of Luzon and Visayas.

Thousands evacuated

More than 96,000 families have already moved to evacuation centres there, Social Welfare Minister Corazon Soliman told reporters in Manila.

"People on the coastal areas are evacuating because of the threat of storm surges," National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council spokeswoman Romina Marasigan told AFP, referring to giant waves dumped onto the shore by strong winds.

The Philippines is hit by about 20 major storms a year, many of them deadly. The Southeast Asian archipelago is often the first major landmass to be hit after the storms build above the warm Pacific Ocean waters.

Super Typhoon Haiyan unleashed seven-metre (23-foot) storm surges that devastated the coasts of the eastern islands of Samar and Leyte last year, killing up to 7,300 people in one of the nation's worst ever natural disasters.

'Terrified of storm surges'

More than a thousand residents of Tacloban, a city in Leyte, fled to an indoor government stadium early Tuesday after the weather service warned of the threat of three-metre waves hitting the coast.

"We're terrified of storm surges," mother of three Mary Ann Avelino, 26, told AFP as her family sat on the cold concrete of the bleacher seats, watching puddles form on the floor from the leaky roof.

She said her family had temporarily abandoned a lean-to at the ruins of their coastal home to sit out the new typhoon on higher ground.

State weather forecaster Alczar Aurelio said Rammasun was forecast to hit Legazpi, a city of about 185,000 people, in the early evening Tuesday.

It was then forecast to sweep across around 350 kilometres (215 miles) to the northwest and hit Manila and its 12 million people on Wednesday morning, he added.

Heavy rain and strong winds pounded the Bicol coasts in the late afternoon, though there were no reports of casualties or damage, Joey Salceda, the governor of Albay province in Bicol, said over television.

Rammasun is the first to make landfall since this year's rainy season began in June, and authorities as well as local media were seeking to ensure all potentially impacted communities were well informed and prepared.

The state weather service upgraded Rammasun overnight Monday from a tropical storm into a typhoon as its wind speeds built over the Pacific.

Rammasun, which is Thai for "God of Thunder", is expected to have gusts of up to 180 kilometres an hour when it makes landfall, according to the US military's Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

The government cancelled most classes in Manila and Bicol on Tuesday, while dozens of domestic flights were also grounded.

The coastguard also shut down domestic shipping across Bicol and nearby areas, leaving more than 6,000 ferry passengers stranded, Social Welfare Minister Soliman said. —with reports from Joel Locsin and Agence France-Presse/TJD/NB, GMA News