Severe Tropical Storm Egay has intensified into a typhoon as it moves over the Philippine Sea, PAGASA said late Sunday.
In its 11 p.m. bulletin, the state weather bureau said that the center of Typhoon Egay’s eye is estimated to be 490 km east-northeast of Daet, Camarines Norte, or 620 km east of Baler, Aurora. It is moving west-northwest at 10 kilometers per hour with maximum sustained winds of 120 km/h near the center, gustiness of up to 150 km/h, and a central pressure of 975 hPa.
“Strong to typhoon-force winds extend outwards up to 550 km from the center,” PAGASA said.
Storm Signal No. 2 has been hoisted over the northeastern portion of Catanduanes (Pandan, Bagamanoc, Panganiban, Viga, Gigmoto), where wind speeds of 62 to 88 km/h are expected to hit.
Storm Signal No. 1 has been raised over the following areas:
- Batanes,
- Cagayan including Babuyan Islands,
- Isabela,
- Quirino,
- northeastern portion of Nueva Vizcaya (Diadi, Bagabag, Quezon, Kasibu, Solano, Villaverde),
- Apayao,
- Kalinga,
- Abra,
- Ifugao,
- Mountain Province,
- northern portion of Aurora (Casiguran, Dilasag, Dinalungan, Dipaculao),
- Camarines Norte,
- Camarines Sur,
- rest of Catanduanes,
- Albay,
- Sorsogon,
- Northern Samar,
- Eastern Samar, and
- Samar
Egay’s track is expected to go west-northwestwart or westward in the next 12 hours, before turning generally northwestward over the Philippine Sea east of northern and central Luzon, PAGASA added.
It is expected to continue strengthening and may develop into a super typhoon by Wednesday while over the Balintang Channel between the Batanes and Babuyan islands. “A landfall scenario over Batanes-Babuyan or northeastern mainland Cagayan is not ruled out since this is within the forecast confidence cone,” PAGASA said.
Heavy rainfall outlook
The accumulated rainfall from late Sunday night to Monday evening is forecast to be as much as 50 to 100 mm in Catanduanes, the northeastern portion of Camarines Sur, and the northern portion of Camarines Norte.
Classes and work in government offices have been cancelled in some areas due to the expected effects of Typhoon Egay, as well as due to a scheduled transport strike that will begin on Monday, the day of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s second State of the Nation Address (SONA). — BM, GMA Integrated News
