Prepare for floods, landslides

As SamuelPH nears-PDRRMC 

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, November 19 (PIA)—Typhoon Samuel (SamuelPH) might not be as strong as the past typhoon Senyang but it would bring in almost the same amount of rains, if the weather bureau’s current projection holds true. 

Expected to hit northeastern Bohol between midnight and 1:00 AM November 21, according to state weather bureau, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pag-asa), tropical depression Samuel by that time could be a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of up to 62 to 88 kilometers per hour or 34 to 47 knots. 

And while Pag-asa forecasts a landfall by that time, with a cloud cover reaching between 250 to 300 kilometers wide, expect the rains to come even before the landfall, the weather bureau warns. 

When a storm is making landfall, it is when the center (eye) of the storm moves across the coast or when the eye moves over land, explains Pag-asa Bohol Leonardo Samar. 

This is usually the reckoning as this is the time when most of the damage occurs within a typhoon as most of the damaging aspects of these systems are concentrated near the eyewall. 

But, Bohol PDRRM TaRSIER 117 Executive Officer Mark Sidney Galia explained that before the landfall, an area can already experience strong rains or winds. 

Samuel entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) last Sunday and (Pag-asa) classified it as tropical depression with maximum sustained winds of up to 61 kilometers per hour (kph) or less than 33 nautical miles per hour (knots). 

Pag-asa Bohol Chief Leonardo Samar, during the Pre Disaster Risk Assessment at the Provincial Disaster and Risk Reduction management Council for typhoon Samuel (#SamuelPH) showed a rainfall forecasting model that projected a massive cloud cover which the storm now barreling towards Surigao, is bringing in. 

Rains brought by storm Samuel could come in as early as Monday evening and may be in until Wednesday, Samar said. 

Over this, Governor Edgar Chatto who heads the PDRRMC has instructed the council’s implementing arm: TaRSIER 117 to preposition a search and rescue team in Ubay as all TaRSIER units outside Tagbilaran are also placed on red alert. 

PDRRMC Bohol action Officer Anthony Damalerio also added that beginning Monday, the PDRRMC Action Center in Camp E Bernido shall operate on a 24 hour basis until the threat subsides. 

At its current direction, the center of the storm would hit near Panadtaran Candijay, and as to Department of Education’s School Governance head Desiderio, class suspensions have been declared in Candijay, Anda and Guindulman, where Tabajan has a history of flooding. 

In anticipation of the storm, the Department of Social Welfare and Development has pre-positioned goods in case of relief operations. 

Leo Hontanosas of the Social Welfare and Development Office said they have a total of 13,844 goods ready and pre-positioned for any eventuality. 

He said 4,619 goods are ready at the Bohol DSWD warehouse and another 9,225 are now pre-positioned in nine towns. 

These are in Loboc, Batuan, Buenavista, Candijay, Duero, Sierra Bullones, Sevilla, Trinidad and Ubay. 

On the other hand, Philippine National Red Cross, reports Merlina Batoy, has a thousand food packs and could still request for more from their Regional Warehouse if there is a need. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)