32 areas under storm signals
MANILA (UPDATE) - State weather bureau PAGASA on Wednesday morning placed 30 areas under storm warning signals as the "extremely dangerous" Typhoon ''Lawin'' continued to grow in size, strength and speed.
The typhoon will also dump occasionally intense rains and trigger storm surges as it marches across northern Luzon, the weather agency warned.
"Lumakas, lumawak at bumilis ang ating bagyo kaya talagang delikado na itong bagyo," PAGASA meteorologist Samuel Duran said.
The U.S. Naval Observatory's Joint Typhoon Warning Center said Tuesday that Lawin is now a super typhoon. PAGASA has yet to raise Lawin to super typhoon status because of differences in its measurements compared to the JTWC.
In an 8 a.m. bulletin, PAGASA said the typhoon was already packing top sustained winds of 210 kilometers per hour (kph) near the center and gusts of up to 260 kph.
The typhoon's diameter also increased from 650 kilometers on Tuesday night to 700 kilometers early Wednesday.
Duran said moderate to heavy and occasionally intense rains were seen within Lawin's diameter, especially near its eye wall, shown in red in this satellite image:
"Lagi po nating pinagdidiinan na itong bagyo natin ay kakaiba. Based po sa ating satellite imagery, makikita po natin na napakalaki ng ating bagyo. And then iyung red portion na iyan, iyan talaga ang maulan," he said.
[We are stressing that this typhoon is unusual. Based on our satellite image, we can see that the typhoon is very wide. That red portion indicates intense rains.]
The typhoon, moving west northwest, also picked up speed from 24 to 26 kph, Duran added.
The typhoon, moving west northwest, also picked up speed from 24 to 26 kph, Duran added.
"Katulad po ng kay Haiyan (Typhoon Yolanda in 2013), mas malakas siya at mas mabilis so iyung tama niya sa dalampasigan, iyun ang nagproduce talaga ng malalakas or matataas na storm surges. Iyun po ang effect kapag bumilis ang ating bagyo," he said.
"Kapag dumating naman po sa mga pag-ulan, kapag bumagal itong bagyo, mas mababad naman ang bagyo sa lugar. Either way, destructive po talaga ang bagyo natin."
[Like Typhoon Yolanda, it strengthened and sped up so when it hit the coast, it produced strong or high storm surges. That is the effect when our storm speeds up. When it comes to rainfall, if the storm slows down, it will stay longer in the area. Either way, our typhoon is really destructive.]
PAGASA has raised storm signals in these areas:
Duran said storm surges of up to five meters may also hit Cagayan, Calayan Islands, Isabela, and Ilocos Norte.
Lawin is also likely to intensify into a super typhoon before it makes landfall over Cagayan area early Thursday.
PAGASA urged residents of provinces in the typhoon's path to follow evacuation measures.
"Kung may evacuation po tayo na pinapalabas na, sumunod na po agad dahil itong bagyo natin ay hindi na po ito nagbibiro. Impending na po at malapit na. Binibigyan lang tayo ng halos isang araw lang para magkaroon tayo ng magandang pre-evacuation," Duran said.
[If we have evacuation and we are ordered to go out, let us obey because this storm is no joke. It is impending and already near. We are given just under a day to hold efficient pre-evacuation.]
Visit the ABS-CBN Weather Center for the latest weather updates.
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