THE Philippines is preparing for a much stronger typhoon that will be named “Lawin” after “Karen” left the country on Sunday, an official said Monday.
“We’ll be conducting a pre-disaster risk-assessment meeting, and we are anticipating that Typhoon ‘Lawin’ will be much stronger than ‘Karen’ because it started way outside the Philippine area of responsibility,” Executive Director Ricardo Jalad of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council told reporters.
“It will have sufficient time and distance to intensify, so we will exert our best efforts to make the necessary preparations. It is expected to directly affect the country by Thursday.”
Jalad made his statement even as another disaster official said “Karen” destroyed more than P2 billion worth of agricultural products in Central Luzon alone.
Jalad said “Lawin” was expected to hit Northern Luzon, and that it would cover a larger area than “Karen.”
It was in October 13 that a low pressure area East of Samar developed into a tropical depression and was named “Karen,” which intensified into a tropical storm that same day and further intensified into a typhoon the following day before making landfall in Baler, Aurora, on Oct. 16.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development said 8,000 families were evacuated in Region 1, 2, 3 and Calabarzon and Region V before “Karen” made landfall.
Jalad said 5,077 families were still inside evacuation centers as of Monday.
He said three people had been reported dead and five missing but reports were still being validated. Sandy Araneta and Romeo Dizon