Metro Manila, Philippines— Typhoon Egay is expected to exit the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) on Thursday, but another low pressure area (LPA) is seen to intensify and enter the country’s weather monitoring area.
In its 5 a.m. bulletin, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said Egay was last spotted 195 kilometers (km) west of Basco, Batanes. It had maximum sustained winds of 150 kilometers per hour (kph) near the center, down from 185 kph.
The bureau said the typhoon is expected to leave the PAR by Thursday morning or afternoon and is forecast to cross the Taiwan Strait and make landfall in the vicinity of Fujian, China on Friday morning.
PAGASA, however, warned that there is still a moderate to high risk of storm surge, which may cause flooding in low-lying and exposed coastal areas of Batanes, the northwestern portion of Cagayan including Babuyan Islands, Ilocos Norte, and extreme northern portion of Ilocos Sur.
The bureau has retained Signal No. 2 over Batanes, Cagayan including Babuyan Islands, Apayao, Kalinga, Abra, Ilocos Norte, and the northern and central portion of Ilocos Sur.
Signal No. 1 is up in Isabela, Quirino, Nueva Vizcaya, Mountain Province, Ifugao, Benguet, the rest of Ilocos Sur, La Union, Pangasinan, Aurora, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, and the northern portion of Zambales
Meanwhile, the LPA is expected to intensify into a storm before entering PAR in the following days, PAGASA said.
“Base po sa ating analysis, mataas po ang tyansa na ito’y maging isang bagyo sa loob ng dalawang araw,” weather specialist Benison Estareja said.
[Translation: Based on our analysis, there is a high chance that this will become a storm in two days.]
PAGASA said the LPA was last located 1,800 km east of northeastern Mindanao, and it may remain in the PAR until Aug. 1.
It will be named “Falcon” once it develops into a tropical depression. Falcon will be the third storm to enter the country in July.
