Yolanda nears, expect rains

Mayor Michael Rama had just announced the cancellation of work in both private and public office starting now to tomorrow.

Pagasa -Visayas acting chief Oscar Tabada said storm signal no. 3 may be hoisted in nothern Cebu and Cebu City at 4 p.m.

The state weather bureau (Pagasa) has raised storm warning signal in northern Cebu and Cebu City to signal no. 2 as of noon today.

Earlier in the day, when Yolanda entered Philippine territory, signal number 1 was hoisted in Cebu.

At signal no. 2, winds from 60 to 100 kph can be felt. Pagasa has also forecast Typhoon Yolanda (International name: Haiyan) to dump 10 to 30 millimeters of rain per hour along its path. The storm which is classified as a super typhoon by the US has a diameter of about 600 kilometers.

Pagasa has warned that Yolanda is as strong or could even be stronger than Ruping (International name: Mike) that ravaged Cebu in November 1990. It was the last super typhoon to hit Cebu.

The Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (CCDRRMC) have advised the public to be prepared but not to panic. The CDRRMC has received calls from resident to cut or prune tall trees to prevent accidents when strong winds come.

“We cannot blame the people for all these calls because we are indeed expecting a super typhoon, as international weather forecaster would say,” said Simeon Romarate, executive director of the CCDRRMC.

City Mayor Michael Rama converted the conference room of his office as command post of the disaster office.

“The command post is where we receive alerts, threats, and problems regarding the coming
incident, and then we call the concerned agencies to ask for necessary equipments,” said Romarate.

Mayor Rama and city councilors sat down on operations, planning and research, and are looking for possible typhoon-related incidents.