MANILA: The Philippines’ disaster agency said on Saturday (Sep 24) it was on high alert as being a tropical storm was anticipated to bring heavy rain fall and severe wind gusts to northern provinces, some of which have already been strike by a cyclone last month.
Tropical storm Noru will be forecast to bring down pours over several provinces, including Cagayan and Isabela from Saturday night, and make landfall on Sunday, weather forecasters said.
Noru, with sustained winds of up to 110kmh, comes after tropical storm Ma-On caused three deaths in northern Philippines in August, as it delivered heavy rains that flooded communities plus caused landslides.
“This tropical cyclone is forecast to intensify into a typhoon in the next 12 hours and may further heighten prior to landfall, ” the weather forecasting agency said in a bulletin issued at 5pm.
Local government authorities have been advised to attempt pre-emptive evacuations of communities in high-risk areas, the catastrophe agency said in a statement, as weather forecasters warned associated with flooding and rain-induced landslides.
The weather bureau said Noru was moving westward towards the east coastline of Aurora province or northern part of Quezon province, exactly where it was likely to create landfall on Weekend afternoon.