Tropical Storm Falcon Leaves Philippines

After a few days of dumping rains on Metro Manila and nearby provinces, Tropical Storm Falcon (international name Meari) left the Philippine area of responsibility early Saturday leaving flooded streets in Metro Manila and thousands of people in evacuation areas. However, moderate to heavy rains are still expected to hit northern and central Luzon, including Metro Manila which is caused by the southwest monsoon or habagat.

According to Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), the storm left the Philippines at around 12 midnight towards Japan and as of 4 a.m. Saturday morning, Falcon was already 590 kilometers north northeast of Basco, Batanes. Based on PAGASA’s 5 a.m. advisory, Falcon now has maximum sustained winds of 105 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 135 kph. It was moving north-northwest at 24 kph and was expected to be 680 km north-northeast of Basco, Batanes or at 320 km west-northwest of Okinawa, Japan. It will continue to enhance the Southwest Monsoon thus bringing occasional rains over Luzon particularly over the western sections of Northern and Central Luzon. It also said that strong to gale force winds are expected to affect the Western and of Visayas and the Eastern seaboards of Luzon and Visayas.

The weather is expected to improve by Saturday afternoon in Metro Manila and by Sunday in northern and central Luzon.

Visayas and Mindanao will experience partly cloudy skies on Saturday.
According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), Falcon left 15 people missing and over 69,000 families have been affected by Falcon in the National Capitol Region, Central Luzon, Calabarzon and the Bicol region.

So far, it is estimated that the total damage to infrastructure and agriculture is at P1.9 million.