CDN PHOTO Junjie Mendoza
CEBU CITY, Philippines – At least 567 passengers were left stranded in the ports of Cebu and Bohol provinces on Thursday morning after the Philippine Coastguard in Central Visayas (PCG-7) ordered the cancellation of sea travels to Northern Cebu and Eastern Visayas as a result of Tropical Depression (TD) Usman.
Lt. Michael John Encina, operations officer of PCG-7, said that sea travels remain unsafe in these areas, especially for small sea crafts.
As of 11 a.m. today, December 27, TD Usman was estimated to be around 450 kilometers (km) East of Surigao City, Surigao del Norte or 440 km East Southeast of Guiuan, Eastern Samar.
It now has maximum sustained winds of 55 kilometers per hour (kph) and gustiness of 65 kph.
Pagasa Mactan Weather Specialist Jhomer Eclarino said that TD Usman is expected to develop into a Tropical Storm before it would make landfall in Eastern Samar on Friday.
He said that Cebu is expected to experience light to moderate with occasional heavy rains.