SURIGAO CITY–Classes in elementary and secondary levels around Caraga have been suspended until Tuesday (February 13), the day Tropical Storm Basyang (international name Sanba) is expected to make a landfall in this region.
In its 2 p.m. severe weather bulletin Monday, state weather bureau PAGASA said Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal (TCWS) No. 2 has remained hoisted over Surigao del Sur. It located the eye of Basyang at 570 kilometers east southeast of Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur, packing maximum sustained winds of up to 65 kilometers per hour and gustiness of up to 80 kilometers per hour.
The region’s other four provinces, meanwhile, are on TCWS No. 1, namely Dinagat Islands, Surigao del Norte, Agusan del Norte, and Agusan del Sur.
Local authorities in all of the region’s five provinces have decided to suspend classes in elementary and secondary levels as early as Sunday, the Office of Civil Defense-Caraga said.
At the Lipata seaport, a primary hub for cargo and passenger ships for the Visayas mainland, hundreds of passengers remained stranded since Sunday, following the Philippine Coast Guard’s directive to ground all ocean-going vessels.
Annette Villaces, an official of the local disaster coordinating body, said eight passenger and cargo vessels have been stranded since Sunday, along with inter-island buses that carry hundreds of passengers in them.
PAGASA has advised local disaster risk reduction and management councils to “take appropriate actions” and keep an eye for the next severe weather updates in the next 24 hours. (Danilo Adorador, III/PNA)
