Saola batters Luzon; another storm brews
TROPICAL CYCLONE Wind Signal No. 2 remained hoisted over Batanes and Babuyan Islands on Wednesday as Super Typhoon Saola, locally named Goring, battered northern Luzon, just as another severe tropical storm was expected to enter the Philippines.
Saola was packing maximum sustained winds of 195 kilometers per hour (kph) as of 10 a.m. near the center and gusts of up to 240 kph as it moved west-northwestward off Basco, Batanes.
Meanwhile, severe tropical storm Haikui was set seen 1,465 kilometers east of extreme northern Luzon. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 110 kph and up to 135 kph gusts.
Saola would likely remain a super typhoon until Friday as it moves west-northwest across the Luzon Strait, the state weather bureau said.
It is expected to leave the Philippine area of responsibility on Wednesday night or Thursday morning.
Haikui might become a typhoon as soon as it enters the country, but it was not expected to hit the Philippine landmass and would probably remain at sea, it said. It could bring monsoon rains while moving northwest as it leaves the Philippines by Friday.
Meanwhile, Saola has affected 196,926 Filipinos, 35,095 of whom were staying in evacuation centers, the country’s disaster agency said in a report.
The super typhoon caused P41 million in infrastructure damage including 134 houses, 52 of which were totally destroyed.
Authorities had yet to estimate farm damage.
The Philippines is one of the countries most affected by water-related disasters, with an average of 20 typhoons that bring heavy flooding and cause billions of pesos in damage to infrastructure and agriculture each year.
Previous typhoons this year severely affected the country’s food production, with Super Typhoon Doksuri and a southwest monsoon causing P1.94 billion worth of agriculture damage. The rice sector accounted for P950 million of the total.
El Niño, which is expected to be “moderate or strong” by the end of 2023 or early 2024, is also seen affecting the country’s crop production.
The Department of Agriculture has recommended that the private sector import an additional 500,000 metric tons of rice in anticipation of El Niño, which farmers have opposed.
Early in his term, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. promised to modernize the agriculture sector and cut the country’s reliance on food imports. — Norman P. Aquino and Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza
