MikeLigalig.com

By Alcuin Papa, Jocelyn Uy, Rey M. Nasol, Inquirer Southern Luzon
Philippine Daily Inquirer

The irony of it all is not only its name—which means “cruel”—but that it is threatening to strike Luzon so soon after two back-to-back storms ravaged wide areas in the country’s biggest and most populous island.

A tropical cyclone with an international name “Lupit” on Friday intensified into a storm as it entered the Philippine area of responsibility, packing maximum winds of 95 kilometers per hour and gusting up to 120 kph.

The Pagasa weather bureau said the impact of Lupit—officially referred to by Pagasa as “Ramil” after it entered the Philippine weather monitoring jurisdiction—would not be felt until Sunday.

As of Friday evening, the third storm to threaten the country in three weeks was spotted 1,000 km east of Virac and moving west northwest at a fairly fast clip of 35 kph in the general direction of northern and Central Luzon, weather experts said.

“We will not feel the effects yet. We will have good weather until Sunday,” Pagasa weather forecaster Robert Sawi said.

Pagasa Deputy Administrator Nathaniel Cruz tried to ease fears among people living in low-lying areas that they would again be swamped by floods, saying Pagasa would recommend a slow release of water from dams in Luzon.

“Hinay-hinay lang ang release (The release of water will be done gradually). It will not be significant enough to cause any flooding,” he told the Inquirer.

Local officials have said the release of huge amounts of water from several dams worsened the floods in many areas in northern Luzon in the wake of Tropical Storms “Ondoy” (international codename: Ketsana) and “Pepeng” (Parma) which left hundreds of people dead and devastated agricultural crops and infrastructure.

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