MANILA – Northern Luzon increasingly risks facing inclement weather from the severe tropical storm, with international name ‘Megi’, which state forecasters expect to enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) Saturday (Sept. 24) and head west-northwest.
“That storm can intensify further,” said weather forecaster Aldczar Aurelio of the state weather bureau, Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).
He warned about such possibility, noting that ‘Megi’ is still over water where the storm can draw the energy it needs to increase its strength.
Communities concerned must already prepare for ‘Megi’ since the storm is already very near the boundary of PAR, said Aurelio.
Northern Luzon will likely begin experiencing the storm’s effects around Monday (Sept. 26), he noted.
“Central Luzon can be affected as well,” he said.
‘Helen’ is the local name PAGASA will use for ‘Megi’ once the storm enters PAR.
PAGASA forecasting chief Robert Sawi earlier said ‘Helen’ will likely remain inside PAR until around Wednesday (Sept. 28), crossing Northern Luzon.
He expects ‘Helen’ to exit PAR later that day.
Typhoon ‘Gener’ (international name ‘Malakas’) battered Northern Luzon’s northernmost Batanes province and surroundings earlier this month with moderate to heavy rains, maximum sustained winds of up to 175 kph and gustiness of up to 210 kph.
Before the onslaught of ‘Gener’ however, near-super typhoon ‘Ferdie’ (international name ‘Meranti’) also dumped moderate to heavy rains there this month while packing maximum sustained winds of up to 210 kph and gustiness of up to 245 kph.
PAGASA earlier located ‘Megi’ at some 1,650 km. east of Central Luzon at 2 a.m. Saturday.
‘Megi’ packed maximum sustained winds of 95 kph and gustiness of 120 kph, said PAGASA.
The storm moved west-northwest at 24 kph, PAGASA added.