By Sheldeen Joy Talavera, Reporter

THE PHILIPPINES would probably be battered by at least three tropical cyclones in August, the state weather bureau said on Tuesday, after the main island of Luzon was pummeled by two successive typhoons last week that killed at least 25 people.

These typhoons might pass through northern Philippines but were unlikely to make landfall, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said.

“Like other previous storms, there is a strong possibility that they will enhance the southwest monsoon that will bring rain especially in the western section of Luzon,” PAGASA weather specialist Grace Castañeda told a news briefing.

In an 11 a.m. bulletin, the weather bureau said typhoon Falcon was last spotted 875 kilometers east-northeast of extreme Northern Luzon.

It had maximum sustained winds of 175 kilometers per hour (kph) and gustiness of up to 215 kph. It was moving west-northwestward at 20 kph.

“The southwest monsoon enhanced by typhoon Falcon will bring occasional to monsoon rains over the western portion of Luzon in the next three days,” PAGASA said.

It added that storm Signal No.1 might be raised over Batanes province due to “the very expansive wind field of the typhoon.”

Ms. Castañeda said the typhoon might maintain its strength and could even develop into a super typhoon. “We can see that it may maintain its strength, but we do not rule out the possibility that this may intensify and become a super typhoon.”

Falcon is expected to weaken as it moves toward the waters southeast of Okinawa Islands. Based on PAGASA’s forecast track, the typhoon is expected to leave the Philippines by Tuesday afternoon or evening.

Meanwhile farm damage from typhoon Doksuri, locally named Egay, had reached P1.94 billion, the Department of Agriculture said in a separate bulletin citing reports from regional offices in the Cordillera Administrative Region, Ilocos region, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Western Visayas, Soccsksargen and Caraga.

The volume of production loss was 86,975 metric tons covering 147,063 hectares of agricultural land, it said.  About 123,274 farmers and fisherfolk were affected by the typhoon.

The agency said 111,873 bags of rice seeds, 14,426 bags of corn seeds and 2,582 kilos of assorted vegetable seeds were available for distribution to farmers.

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources would give out P62,000 worth of tilapia, carp and catfish fingerlings to fishermen.

The Bureau of Plant Industry has buffer stocks for vegetable seeds for short gestating crops, Director Glenn F. Panganiban told reporters.

“With the help of the government, private sector and local government units, I think we can recover rapidly from this,” he said.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council said 2.45 million people from 668,974 families were affected by the combined effects of the southwest monsoon.

Meanwhile, 108 cities and municipalities had been placed under a state of calamity.  The government had given out P153.9 million in assistance to victims, it added.

The Philippines lies along the typhoon belt in the Pacific and experiences about 20 storms each year. It also lies in the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, a belt of volcanoes around the Pacific Ocean where most of the world’s earthquakes strike.

The country constantly experiences unavoidable losses and damage equivalent to 0.5% of its annual economic output mainly due to an increasingly unpredictable climate, according to the Finance department.

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