Severe Tropical Storm “Jolina” further weakened while moving over the Sibuyan Sea in the central Philippines on Tuesday afternoon—but not after making landfall six times, ravaging areas in Luzon and Visayas, triggering flash floods, and stranding passengers at ports.
This was just as another weather disturbance named “Kiko” entered the Philippine area of responsibility, state weather bureau PAGASA said.
Weathermen estimated its center at 60 kms west northwest of Masbate City, or 90 km east of Romblon, packing maximum sustained winds of 100 km/hr near the center, gustiness of up to 125 km/hr, and was moving west northwestward at 15 km/hr.
In its 8 p.m. bulletin, PAGASA said Jolina may make landfall or pass near or over the Bondoc Peninsula-Marinduque area today. It may make another landfall over the Quezon-Batangas area on Wednesday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Severe Tropical Storm Chanthu entered the country's territory at 5:30 p.m. and was assigned the local name Kiko. The local weather bureau said the storm, located over 1,500 km east of southern Luzon, was less likely to make landfall over any part of the country.
Jolina brought strong winds and rain over Zumarraga, Samar, where several tents were swept away. Extreme flooding brought about by the storm also engulfed several Leyte homes, according to a 24 Oras report.
In Ormoc, Leyte, 40 residents living near a river were forced to evacuate due to Jolina. A spillway in San Francisco, Quezon was also destroyed due to the heavy rain and winds.
Over 100 passengers were also stuck at ports in Sorsogon and other provinces.
Several transmission lines in Samar and Leyte were affected by Jolina, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines said, but the grid remained in normal condition.
NGCP reported on Tuesday that the following transmission lines were unavailable: Paranas-Borongan-Quinapondan 69kV line and Sta. Rita-Quinapondan 69kV line, affecting customers of Eastern Samar Electric Cooperative (Esalmelco); Babatngon-Arado 69kV line affecting customers of Leyte Electric Cooperative II; and Paranas-Bliss 69kV line and Calbayog-Bliss 69kV line affecting Samar Electric Cooperative (Samelco) II and Samelco I customers, respectively.
"Inspection and restoration of lines in the affected areas will be in full swing as soon as the weather allows," NGCP said in its advisory.
The Department of Energy said all power generation plants in the affected areas are under normal operation except for EDC Unified Leyte – Upper Mahiao GPP (34.5 MW), which underwent emergency shutdown due to weather disturbance on September 6 but went online the next day.
Tropical cyclone wind signal no. 2 was hoisted over 13 areas — the central and southern portions of Quezon, the southern portion of Rizal, Laguna, the southeastern portion of Batangas, the northeastern portion of Oriental Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Sorsogon, the western portion of Albay, Masbate, including Ticao and Burias Islands, the western and southern portion of Camarines Sur, and the western portion of Camarines Norte.
Signal no. 1 was raised over the southern portion of Aurora, the southern portion of Quirino, the southern portion of Nueva Vizcaya, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Zambales, Bataan, Bulacan, Pampanga, Metro Manila, the rest of Rizal, the rest of Quezon, Cavite, the rest of Batangas, the rest of Oriental Mindoro, Occidental Mindoro, including Lubang Island, the rest of Camarines Norte, the rest of Camarines Sur, Catanduanes and the rest of Albay.
“Jolina” first made a landfall in Hernani, Eastern Samar around 10 p.m. Monday. It hit land again in Daram, Santo Niño, Almagro, all in Samar early Tuesday, and in Dimasalang, Masbate.
Weathermen said heavy to intense with at times torrential rains were expected over Masbate, Leyte, Biliran, Samar, Northern Samar, Sorsogon, Albay, Catanduanes, Camarines provinces, Southern Quezon, Romblon, and Marinduque.
Moderate to heavy, with at times intense rains will be experienced over Mindoro provinces and the rest of Calabarzon and the Visayas.
Scattered to widespread flooding and rain-induced landslides are likely, especially in areas susceptible to these hazards.