TYPHOON “Ramon” made its long-anticipated landfall in Cagayan yesterday and later significantly weakened into a low pressure area, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said.
It may dissipate today.
However, a tropical depression has intensified into a storm which is threatening to hit areas affected by Ramon.
Due to new storm “Sarah,” signal No. 1 was raised in Batanes and in the northern portion of Cagayan (Gattaran, Lal-lo, Buguey, Gonzaga, Sta. Ana, Calayan) including Babuyan Islands.
As of 4 p.m. yesterday, storm “Sarah” was some 540 km east of Tuguegarao City in Cagayan and was moving north northwest at 30 kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 65 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 80 kph. It was forecast to be 230 km east of Aparri, Cagayan this afternoon.
PAGASA said Ramon made landfall in Sta. Ana town around 12:20 a.m. and weakened into an LPA at around 2 p.m. “due to land interaction and northeast monsoon.”
In a 5 p.m. weather bulletin, PAGASA said all signal warnings raised in areas in northern Luzon because of Ramon have been lifted.
“However, strong to gale force winds will still prevail over Batanes and Babuyan Islands while occasional gusty conditions may be experienced over the rest Northern Luzon due to the surge of northeast monsoon,” PAGASA said.
Ramon was earlier projected to make landfall in Babuyan Islands but it re-curved and hit land in Sta. Ana instead. Ramon had been forecast to make the landfall as early as Saturday. Its slow movement delayed its landfall to yesterday.
As of 4 p.m. yesterday, the LPA (formerly Ramon) was in the area of Carranglan in Nueva Ecija.
Rogie Sending, information officer of the Cagayan provincial government, said some barangays in Sta. Ana, and the nearby towns of Gonzaga and Santa Teresita town were flooded due to Ramon, but the floods have started to subside.
“Our soil is already saturated because of a recent weather disturbance, so rains brought by Ramon can no longer be accommodated by our soil, they no longer have the capacity to absorb,” said Sending.
He also said the local government “implemented forced evacuation” but could not say how many residents were moved.
Sending said Cagayan remains on alert because of Sarah. “We can do nothing about it, we have to prepare for it,” he said.
