Tropical depression “Ester” on Friday entered the Philippine area of responsibility but is not expected to make landfall.
It is expected to leave Friday night or Saturday night for southern Taiwan and to enhance the southwest monsoon.
“It is on its way out of PAR,” the weather bureau said.
The bureau made its announcement even as the Metro Manila Development Authority on Friday asked the Department of Public Works and Highways to repair the damaged portion of Epifanio de los Santos Avenue following the heavy rain brought by the southwest monsoon and tropical storm “Domeng.”
Because of Ester, the southwest monsoon will continue to bring monsoon rain in Ilocos, the Cordillera Administrative Region, Batanes, the Babuyan group of islands, Zambales, Bataan, Tarlac, and Pampanga.
Metro Manila, Calabarzon, Oriental Mindoro, Occidental Mindoro and the rest of Cagayan Valley and the rest of Central Luzon will experience light to moderate rainfall.
As of 5 pm, Ester was spotted 295 kilometers north of Basco, Batanes.
It was moving east-northeast at 25 kilometers per hour and packing maximum sustained winds of 60 km/h and gustiness of up to 90 km/h.
MMDA general manager Jose Arturo Garcia Jr. said coordination had been made with Highways Undersecretary Robert Bernardo to immediately patch up several potholes and damaged sections that pose danger to motorists and hamper the traffic flow along the major roads.
“Continuous downpour these past few days have eroded portions of the major road, creating potholes in various sizes,” Garcia said after inspecting the potholes along Edsa Thursday afternoon.
Large potholes were discovered in Guadalupe and Shaw Boulevard and on Ayala Avenue, Arnaiz Street, and Cubao. Two of them were spotted on the yellow lane, which is designated for passenger buses.
“We have received reports of motorcycle accidents because of these potholes. We advise motorists to take precautionary measures while motorcycle riders should stay on the motorcycle lane,” Garcia said.
For the safety of motorists, barriers were installed to somehow cover the “dangerous” potholes except in the areas with narrow lanes.
Garcia said those potholes were forcing vehicles to slow down, further aggravating the traffic along Edsa.
“A single vehicle that stops for five to 10 seconds will cause three to five kilometers of traffic,” Garcia said.