A STRONG tropical storm barreled toward the country Sunday, threatening the east coast with giant waves, flooding and landslides, civil defense officials warned.
Forecasters said Tropical Storm “Nona” (international name Melor) could strengthen into a full-fledged typhoon by Monday afternoon when it is expected to strike the central island of Samar.
“We should not underestimate the dangers posed by this storm,” civil defense chief Alexander Pama told a meeting of rescue officials.
No evacuations were ordered, but authorities said they could be if the storm, with gusty winds reaching 140 kilometers an hour, hits the impoverished farming island of Samar, which is home to 1.5 million people. The storm was moving west-northwest over the Pacific Ocean Sunday.
Food packs and other emergency items were stockpiled in the areas forecast to be hammered by Melor and the military was put on standby to evacuate people if necessary.
Heavy rain, flooding and landslides were forecast in areas within 150 kilometers of its eye between Monday and Wednesday.
Melor is expected to cut across Samar, Masbate, Marinduque and Mindoro islands before heading out to the South China Sea near Manila early by Wednesday.
Storm surges, or giant crashing waves, were also a risk in some areas, said Pama, executive director of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.
A tropical storm becomes a typhoon when maximum sustained winds are stronger than 120 kilometers, according to the state weather service. Melor had maximum sustained winds of 110 kilometers an hour on Sunday morning.
The Philippines is battered by an average 20 typhoons or storms a year, many of them deadly.
Typhoon “Yolanda” (international name Haiyan), the strongest to ever hit land, destroyed the central city of Tacloban and nearby towns in 2013 and left more than 7,350 people dead or missing.
Typhoon “Lando” (international name Koppu), the last deadly storm to hit the country, killed 54 people and forced tens of thousands of others to flee their homes in the northern Philippines in October.
President Benigno Aquino III ordered all concerned agencies to prepare the local communities that will be affected by the typhoon.
“President Aquino and his Cabinet continue to monitor and do preparations for the coming of severe tropical storm Nona, which is now in the Philippine area of responsibility,” said Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. over state-run radio dzRB.
“The concerned government agencies are now doing the prepositioning of the resources needed. The communities are also being prepared for possible evacuation of residents from danger zones,” Coloma added.
In its forecast, the weather bureau said the provinces that would be affected are Samar and Bicol on Monday, Marinduque and southern Quezon on Tuesday, and Oriental Mindoro on Wednesday, Coloma said.
Tropical Storm ‘‘Nona’’ is expected to make landfall Monday night in northern Samar.
Authorities likened Nona’s expected rainfall to that of Typhoon “Seniang,” which dumped 15 millimeters of rain per hour over Mindanao in December 2014 and left 66 people dead.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration raised Public Storm Warning Signal No. 1 over 11 more areas at mid-morning Sunday as Nona continued to gain strength as it headed toward Samar and Bicol.
Pagasa said that as of 10 a.m. Sunday, the center of the storm was estimated at 565 kilometers east of Catarman, Northern Samar.
Its maximum sustained winds increased from 95 kilometers per hour (kph) to 110 kph near the center and its gustiness also went up from 120 kph to 140 kph.
PSWS No. 1 (30-60 kph winds expected in 36 hours) was hoisted over the provinces of Catanduanes, Camarines Sur, Albay, Sorsogon and Masbate, including Burias and Ticao Islands in Luzon; Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, Samar, Biliran, Leyte and Southern Leyte in the Visayas; and Dinagat province in Mindanao.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development said it has prepositioned relief packs in its field offices as part of preparations in areas expected to be hit by Nona.
The department said it had P25 million in standby funds, 263,223 family food packs and P185.67 million worth of food and non-food items available at the field offices in Regions IV-A (Calabarzon), IV-B (Mimaropa), V (Bicol), VI (Western Visayas), VII (Central Visayas), and VIII (Eastern Visayas).
Disaster teams in the regions were also ordered to be on alert status.