Projected path of tropical cyclone Niña. (DOST-PAGASA FACEBOOK PAGE)
A great Christmas gift from above! While Cebu may experience rains on Christmas weekend, it will be spared by severe Tropical Storm Nina, which entered the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) at 3 a.m. Friday.
Nina is expected to intensify into a typhoon category before landfall either on the afternoon or evening of Christmas day.
It is no longer expected to hit northern Cebu. According to the state weather bureau, Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration’s (Pagasa) 5 p.m. weather bulletin, Nina was moving in a west-northwest direction at 20kph and was expected to make landfall in Catanduanes.
Weather specialist Meo Aguirre of the PAGASA Station in Mactan said that as of 4 p.m. yesterday, Nina was located 700 kilometers east of Borongan City, Eastern Samar, with maximum sustained winds of 105 kph and gustiness of 130 kph.
At present, Aguirre said Storm Signal no. 1 has been raised over Eastern and Northern Samar in the Visayas and in Catanduanes and Sorsogon in Luzon.
As it is now expected to make landfall in the southern Luzon area, Aguirre said Nina will no longer hit the northern part of Cebu.
“Safe to say, layo-layo ra ang bagyo (the storm has veered off Cebu),” he said. But Aguirre said Cebu should still brace for a rainy Christmas weekend as skies will be cloudy with light to moderate rainfall all over the province, starting on tonight to early Sunday morning.
Meanwhile, the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (PDRRMO), in the spirit of preparedness has activated its personnel to monitor the weather disturbance.
PDRRMO Information Officer Julius Regner said they cannot be complacent because the rains could cause landslides in the landslide-prone areas./with Vanisa Soriano, USJ-R Communications Intern