Super typhoon Yolanda (international name Haiyan) will be packing maximum sustained winds of around 268 kilometers per hour (kph) and gusts reaching 324 kph when it slams into the Samar-Leyte area Friday, the US military's weather bureau said Wednesday.
In comparison, super typhoon Pablo had 259 kph sustained winds and 314 kph gusts when it hit Mindanao in December 2012, according to the Hawaii-based Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) run by the US Navy and Air Force.
The JTWC expects Yolanda to reach peak strength today, November 6, and sustain its full Category 5 ferocity until it makes landfall.
The weather agency said the super typhoon is already carrying 250 kph maximum sustained winds and 305 kph gusts as it barrels toward the Philippines.
It expects the tropical cyclone to intensify further in the next 36 hours while it crosses the warm waters of the Philippine Sea.
"STY Haiyan (Yolanda) will make landfall just prior to TAU 48, over the Central Philippines. [It] will weaken as it tracks across the Philippine islands, but should emerge over the South China Sea as a 110 knot (203 kph) typhoon," the JTWC added.
State weather bureau PAGASA has yet to raise public storm warning signals in the country, as of posting Wednesday night, as the tropical cyclone is still out of the Philippine area of responsibility.
The weather bureau said storm signal number 4 could be raised in Bicol and eastern Visayas, where it is expected to make landfall.
"Nakikita natin na talagang malakas yung bagyo. Dapat maghanda tayo dahil pupwede po talagang mag-iissue tayo ng pinakamataas nating signal," PAGASA acting deputy administrator Flaviana Hilario said Wednesday.
"Iyung hangin na tatama dun sa isang lugar ay lalagpas sa 185 kph. Iyun pa lamang ay talagang delubyo na yung mangyayari dun sa area na tataasan natin ng signal number 4," said Robert Sawi, officer-in-charge of PAGASA's weather division.
Sawi said Yolanda's strong winds could be powerful enough to uproot large trees, topple electric posts, and tear roofs off houses.
"Iyung intensity na 185 kph, sobrang lakas na ito, baka halos wala nang matirang puno sa lugar," he said.
PAGASA doesn't have a super typhoon category and its measurements on the strength of cyclones differ from the JTWC and foreign agencies.
Philippines prepares
Meantime, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) expressed optimism Wednesday on preparedness measures for the incoming super typhoon that is expected to hit central Philippines on Friday afternoon.
The cyclone is expected to directly affect the Visayas, Northern Mindanao, and up to the Bicol Region.
In a press briefing, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said that they have drawn up an action plan.
Bohol province is a special concern for the NDRRMC because the communities on the island were severely affected by the recent magnitude 7.2 earthquake last October 15.
Authorities were told by PAGASA that super typhoon Yolanda will not hit Bohol directly.
PAGASA Director Vic Malano said Yolanda was still in the Pacific Ocean, outside the Philippine Area of Responsibility, and was packing sustained winds of 175 kph, based on the bureau's measurements.
Malano said cyclones gain strength while moving across the ocean.
The state weather bureau, in a press briefing Wednesday, said Yolanda could be strongest typhoon to hit the country this year.
Hospitals in Bohol were advised to evacuate their patients from buildings, and those staying in tents were told to go to more sturdy shelters.
The Bohol provincial government is now looking for new evacuation sites for people fleeing the cyclone's wrath. Most evacuation centers in the province were destroyed during the recent quake.
Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said the government is now trying to look for safer structures for quake victims in Bohol.
The DSWD said 83,203 packs of relief goods are already pre-postioned in areas that will be hit by the super typhoon.
The Department of Education, meanwhile, ordered school officials to coordinate with barangay officials for the possible conversion of schools into evacuation centers.
So far, only Albay Governor Joey Salceda and Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide have sent word to the NDRRMC on the declaration of class suspensions in all levels starting Thursday in their respective areas.
The DPWH is also pre-positioning equipment in areas on the supertyphoon's path.
Romblon, meanwhile, has been placed on red alert, the provincial government said.
Tony Salsona, head of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, said the move will help prepare Rombon which could be directly hit by the super typhoon.
Fishermen in the province have also been barred from going out to sea.
UN on alert
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) also raised an alert Wednesday on the typhoon's impending landfall.
It said Yolanda is now classified as a Category 4 cyclone as it moves towards the Philippines.
"Various weather forecast models have compared Haiyan to Category 5 Typhoon Mike (locally known as Ruping) which hit the Philippines in November 1990," UNOCHA said.
Ruping killed 508 people, destroyed 222,026 houses, and damaged 630,885 other houses.
"The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator ad interim has offered to provide technical support in joint rapid needs assessment to the Executive Director of the NDRRMC which was welcomed," UNOCHA said in a statement.
"A UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination team is being deployed in close coordination with the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management to enhance the capacity of the Humanitarian Country Team to support the government," it added. - with reports from Jorge Cariño and Jeff Canoy, ABS-CBN News; Dennis Datu, dzMM; ANC
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
