Tropical cyclone Zoraida, a depression, has reached the island of Mindanao and will go northwest before making landfall in Surigao del Sur on Tuesday.
The storm will hit a lot of the same area that was leveled during Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan).
PAGASA, the Philippine weather agency, said on its website at 4 a.m. local time that the center of Zoraida was 216 km southeast of Hinatuan, Surigao Del Sur and 192 km East of Davao City. It has maximum sustained winds of 55 kph.
The storm is moving at around 30 kph north-northwest.
“The regions of Davao, Caraga, Northern Mindanao, Zamboanga Peninsula, ARMM, province of North Cotabato, Central And Western Visayas, Northern Palawan and The islands of Camiguin, Calamian, Cuyo and Samal will have rains with gusty winds with moderate to rough seas,” the agency said.
It added: “The rest of Palawan and of Visayas and of Mindanao will experience cloudy skies with light to moderate rainshowers and thunderstorms. Metro Manila and the rest of luzon will experience partly cloudy to cloudy skies with light rains.”
A Storm Signal No. 1 was issued for Siquijor, southern Cebu, Bohol, Negros Oriental, Negros Occidental, southern Antique, Iloilo, Guimaras, Dinagat Island, Siargao Island, Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur, Davao Oriental, Compostela Valley, Davao del Norte, Samal Island, Bukidnon, Misamis Oriental, and Camiguin Island.
The Philippine Star reported that classes were suspended in seven areas in Mindanao.
After Yolanda hit, rescue workers are still picking through rubbled to find survivors. Some officials have estimated that 10,000 people were killed.
President Benigno Aquino III on Tuesday declared a state of national calamity three days after the typhoon hit the country.
“This is important not just to control prices of primary products and services needed by our countrymen, but also to avoid overpricing and hoarding of important goods,” he said, according to Rappler.
Authorities said they had evacuated some 800,000 people ahead of the typhoon, but some of the evacuation centers proved to be no protection against the wind and rising water. The Philippine National Red Cross, responsible for warning the region and giving advice, said people were not prepared for a storm surge.
“Imagine America, which was prepared and very rich, still had a lot of challenges at the time of Hurricane Katrina, but what we had was three times more than what they received,” said Gwendolyn Pang, the group’s executive director.
“Please tell my family I’m alive,” said Erika Mae Karakot, a survivor on Tacloban’s Leyte island, as she lined up for aid. “We need water and medicine because a lot of the people we are with are wounded. Some are suffering from diarrhea and dehydration due to shortage of food and water.”
