TWO more tropical cyclones may enter the country and make landfall during the remaining weeks of November, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said yesterday.
“Take note that during the second half of November, it’s possible there will be two tropical cyclones inside our PAR (Philippine Area of Responsibility),” said PAGASA weather specialist Benison Estareja.
“And the possibility of these making landfall is high,” Estareja added as he appealed to the public to continue monitoring weather advisories issued by the agency.
Estareja said no tropical cyclone has been monitored entering the country in the coming days.
In an advisory, PAGASA said the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) is affecting southern Mindanao.
It said Metro Manila and the rest of the country will have “partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rain showers and thunderstorms” due to the ITCZ and localized thunderstorms.
The last tropical cyclone to hit the country was severe tropical storm “Paeng,” which claimed the lives of 160 people while 29 others remain missing.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said Paeng affected 1,386,558 families or 5,568,783 persons in all the 17 regions of the country. The agency also said 760,922 families or 3,166,683 individuals have been displaced, with the number down to 72,190 families or 356,247 individuals as of yesterday.
The cost of damage to agriculture was placed at P6.4 billion while the cost of damage to infrastructure was pegged at P5.43 billion.
There were 6,140 “totally damaged” houses and 57,058 “partially damaged” houses. The cost of damage to houses was placed at P17.2 million.
