Thread: Philippines Braces for Super Typhoon on Christmas Day

MANILA, PHILIPPINES —
A powerful typhoon was heading for a Christmas Day collision with the central Philippines.

The U.S. military's Joint Typhoon Warning Center said Nock-Ten was a super typhoon with winds of up to 240 kph (150 mph) late Christmas Eve local time (1200 GMT), though it was expected to weaken before landfall.

The Philippines' own weather bureau said the province of Catanduanes was likely to see sustained winds of up to 170 kph (105 mph) by the afternoon as the storm reaches its shores.

That's equivalent to a Category 2 hurricane in the Atlantic.

The storm was about 280 kilometers (175) east of the city of Virac early Sunday and it was heading to the west-northwest at about 13 kph (8 mph).

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said it would bring storm surge as high as 2.5 meters (8 feet) in parts of the country, along with heavy rains and flooding.

The storm was projected to weaken further over 36 hours as it passes over the Manila area.

Philippines Braces for Super Typhoon on Christmas Day

Merry Christmas, Flippers!...Thar she blows!...

Merry Christmas to you too, bb. And to everyone!

170 kph wind is pffftt... not impressive. Heh.

Kidding aside, I hope it doesn't strike hard. No wind or rain in my area yet, but it's cloudy. Yday, there was a lil rain, but nothing to write home about. Davis, forreachingme & I live in the same region. GF shld be safe - her area is not in the trajectory of the typhoon. All's well (so far) in flipland. Cheers!
.

Nock-Ten sounds like a Thai-phoon...Heh...

I was expecting Hurricane Fawn or Typhoon Katie...

Onya, ladies!...

Serendipity...

All good here - Merry Xmas to all!

Typhoon Nina brings strong winds and heavy rain to Philippines on Christmas

The typhoon, known locally as Nock-ten, was packing maximum sustained winds and caused some areas to lose power and communication lines



A typhoon slammed into central Philippines late on Sunday, bringing strong winds and heavy rain and cutting off power, but there were no immediate reports of casualties, weather officials and radio reports said.

Typhoon Nina (also known as Nock-ten) was packing maximum sustained winds of 185kph (115mph), with gusts up to 255kph when it made landfall over Catanduanes province on the Bicol peninsula, which was under the highest storm alert on Sunday evening.

The typhoon made a second landfall over Camarines Sur province, then weakened slightly with winds of 175kph but gusts at 290kph, the weather bureau said.

“We continue to pray, stay positive and stay alert. Brownout in a lot of areas already,” Camarines Sur governor Miguel Luis Villafuerte said in a post on his Instagram account.

Communication lines have been cut in some areas, radio reports said.

Heavy rainfall, destructive winds and battering waves were threatening heavily populated rural and urban regions, where the Philippine weather agency raised typhoon warnings, stranding thousands of people in ports as airlines canceled flights and ferries were prevented from sailing. Officials warned of storm surges in coastal villages, flash floods and landslides, and asked villagers to evacuate to safer grounds. Land, sea and air travel have been suspended in some areas.

Around 218,000 people fled to evacuation centres after authorities warned of storm surges and flooding in coastal villages and low-lying areas.

Christmas is the biggest holiday in the Philippines, which has Asia’s largest Roman Catholic population, making it difficult for officials to get people’s attention to heed warnings. With many refusing to leave high-risk communities, some officials said they decided to carry out forced evacuations.

Villafuerte offered roast pig, a popular Christmas delicacy locally called “lechon”, in evacuation centers to entice villagers to move to emergency shelters.

“I know it’s Christmas ... but this is a legit typhoon,” Villafuerte tweeted on Christmas Eve. “Please evacuate, we’ll be having lechon at evacuation centers.”

Camarines Sur officials had targeted about 50,000 families, or about 250,000 people, for evacuation by Saturday night, but the number of those who responded was initially far below expectations.

In Catanduanes province, Vice-Governor Shirley Abundo said she ordered a forced evacuation of villagers, saying some “are really hard-headed, they don’t want to leave their houses because it’s Christmas”.

“We need to do this by force, we need to evacuate them now,” she told ABS-CBN television.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development, which helps oversee government response during disasters, said only about 4,200 people were reported to have moved to six evacuation centers by Sunday morning in the Bicol region, which includes Camarines Sur.

Food, water and other emergency supplies had been pre-positioned in areas expected to be lashed by the typhoon, said Felino Castro of the social welfare and development department. His department was to activate an emergency cluster comprising the military, police, coast guard and other agencies Sunday to oversee disaster response plans.

The typhoon could make another landfall early on Monday while moving west faster at 20kph, from 15kph previously, and crossing the provinces of Camarines Norte, Southern Quezon, Laguna, Batangas and Cavite, weather forecasters said.

The typhoon’s eye will be near Metro Manila on Monday afternoon.

In 2013, more than 6,000 people were killed and 200,000 homes destroyed when Typhoon Haiyan, the strongest ever storm to make landfall in the Philippines, hit the central islands of Leyte and Samar.

About 20 major typhoons pass through the Philippines each year. Since 1948, at least seven have hit during the Christmas period.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...hristmas-storm

^been pissin rain since I woke up a few min ago. I need to go out & do errands later, but it's raining hard. No wind, but lots of rain. Rain, rain go away... little katie needs to do errands today.

Hope ppl in the eastern seaboard are safe. They always bear the brunt of typhoons.

Windy and pissing down here.

^ At least you still have your internet connection! (Knock on wood.)

^Yep. But no power...on generator.

Well, the banana trees are fucked...........

Our place was not really affected, just south of MNL...Typhoon eye was further south, NINA did not wanted to mix with the city smoooogg.

Nina leaving now, few wind gust still, byyye Nina...

Gd bye Nina. Pissed rain abt an hr this morn in my area. Had power interruption too, but just briefly. Was able to do my errands. Nina is now in the vicinity of Subic, acdg.2 d TV news report in d bus. Am on bus going to.Batangas port. I hope the ports are now operatiinal, or else it's a night of waiting at the port, instead of being at sea. Am going to the Visayas area. Cheers all!

Pardon d typos, am on fone

Originally Posted by katie23

Rain, rain go away... little katie needs to do errands today.

just venture forth in your bathing ensemble - and post pics

Katie, not a good day to take a ferry from Batangas !

8 missing as RO-RO ferry sinks; Coast Guard rescues 47 from 3 boats in Batangas

^Batangas has been dead calm for the past 8 hours, so I wish her well and assume she's not chugging off into the storm.

And my banana trees aren't as bad as I thought...some damage, but more or less ok.

Heard from some friends in marinduque that they copped a lot of damage to there House there, blown in windows etc

Typhoon Nock-Ten kills four in the Philippines

Powerful typhoon Nock-Ten has killed at least four people after making its way through the Philippines, officials say.

Despite initial fears, the heavily-populated capital, Manila, was spared by the storm, which had winds of up to 120 km/h (74 mph).

Nock-Ten brought down trees and power lines, and forced more than 380,000 people out of their homes.

Authorities have warned of flash floods and mudslides for the next 36 hours.

Emergency workers were sent to clear roads of fallen trees and power lines. Officials promised that electricity would be restored quickly in badly hit areas.

Dozens of national and international flights had been cancelled because of the storm, and officials said more than 12,000 people spent Christmas stuck at ports after authorities barred ferries from sailing.

Sea, land and air transport have slowly resumed operations.

VIDEO Typhoon Nock-Ten kills four in the Philippines - BBC News