ILOILO City – Local government units (LGUs) in Western Visayas or Region 6 were advised to prepare for the possible entry of a tropical depression (international name: “Surigae”) to be named “Bising” when it enters the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR).
While “Bising” is not forecast to hit land, it is expected to bring rains over Visayas and the Bicol region, said Cindy Ferrer, spokesperson of the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC).
“We are advising LGUs to prepare although for now it is not forecast to (make a) landfall,” she said.
The RDRRMC might call for a pre-disaster risk assessment (PDRA) depending on the next update that will be issued by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).
She, however, stressed there is also a need for LGUs to prepare for the rainy season.
In an advisory, Office of Civil Defense (OCD) regional director Jose Roberto Nuñez, also the chair of the RDRRMC, said local governments should already undertake risk communication and disseminate warning messages, advisories, and relevant directives; hold PDRA and other emergency meetings when applicable; activate their emergency operations center when necessary; conduct resource inventory; and direct for prepositioning of assets and teams.
Nuñez added that while they are bracing for “Bising,” they should also remember to sustain their response efforts against the health pandemic.
As of 10 a.m. yesterday, the center of “Surigae” was spotted 1,095 kilometers East of Mindanao, and the weather agency forecast it to “continuously intensify” and become a typhoon in the next 36 hours.
Based on PAGASA’s latest bulletin, the tropical storm has maximum sustained winds of 95 kilometers per hour (kph) near the center with gusts of up to 115 kph.
It is moving westward at 10 kph.
“As of this moment, ‘Surigae’ has no direct effect yet in any part of the country. However, the public and disaster risk reduction and management offices, especially those situated over the eastern portions of Southern Luzon and Visayas, are advised to continuously monitor for updates on this tropical cyclone,” the weather bureau noted. (PNA/PN)
