New LPA becomes tropical depression; rains seen today
- Details
- Published on Monday, 13 August 2012 00:10
- Written by ASHZEL HACHERO and VICTOR REYES
By A Web design Company
AN active low pressure area entered the Philippine area of responsibility yesterday morning and intensified into a tropical depression in the afternoon.
“Helen,” which was some 750 kilometers east of Casiguran, Aurora as of 4 p.m. yesterday, will enhance the southwest monsoon and bring rains over southern Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao, said weather forecaster Gladys Saludes.
Expected rainfall is heavy to intense (10 to 20 millimeters per hour). Helen is forecast to exit the country by Thursday.
Helen comes as Metro Manila is just starting to recover from last week’s floods triggered by rains from an enhanced southwest monsoon.
The death toll from the massive floods has reached 85, with 60 dying from drowning, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.
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Pope Benedict XVI called for prayers for the Philippines, China, and Iran, all victims of natural calamities, Vatican Radio reported.
China was hit last week by a typhoon that left 12 people dead and almost 2 million people needing evacuation. Iran was hit by quakes Saturday night, with at least 250 people dead.
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Earlier yesterday when Helen was just a low pressure area, the NDRRMC expected normalcy to be restored in two or three days in Metro Manila and nearby areas hit by last week’s massive flooding.
NDRRMC executive director Benito Ramos said the floods in almost all affected areas have already subsided and authorities are now focused on relief, clean-up and recovery operations. Still flooded are low-lying areas in Bulacan, particularly in Obando, Meycauayan and Obando towns.
Thirty-nine provinces, cities and municipalities in Metro Manila, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, and Soccksargen regions had declared states of calamity.
The NDRRMC said affected in the NCR, Ilocos, Central Luzon, Mimaropa and Western Visayas are almost 680,000 families or at least 3 million individuals.
The NDRRMC said Central Luzon had the most number of affected – some 404,000 families or about 1.7 million individuals. At least 25,200 families are in 378 evacuation centers.
The weather bureau said Helen is forecast to move northwest at 11 kph and is expected to be 550 km east northeast of Casiguran, Aurora this afternoon, 410 km northeast of Casiguran tomorrow, and 300 km north of Aparri in Cagayan by Wednesday afternoon.
Five dams in Luzon -- Ipo and Angat in Bulacan, Ambuklao and Binga in Benguet and San Roque in Pangasinan -- have started releasing water due to high water level.
The red alert at La Mesa Dam in Novaliches, Quezon City was lifted late afternoon yesterday.
The decision to lift the red alert and replaced it with the yellow alert status was made after the dam’s water level declined to 79.50 meters, slightly below its spilling level of 80.15 meters. – With Gerard Naval
