Typhoon Mawar weakens, heavy rain to persist in Philippines

May 29

Typhoon Mawar slightly weakened as it moved towards the Philippines, but heavy rain will still threaten some parts of the country in the next three days, the state weather bureau warned on Sunday.

In its latest advisory, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said Mawar will dump rain in the provinces on the northern Luzon Island and the central Philippine regions.

The bureau said Mawar will also enhance the southwest monsoon, dumping rain in some Luzon and central Philippines areas that could trigger flooding and landslides.

The southwest monsoon may also bring occasional gusts reaching nearly gale strength from Sunday night to Monday in many areas in Luzon, central and southern Philippines, the bureau added.

Mawar was spotted 630 km east of Luzon Island on Sunday afternoon, blowing northwestward at 15 km per hour, packing 165 km per hour winds the weather bureau said.

Diego Mariano, the chief of the Office of Civil Defense Joint Monitoring Center, said that some areas have started preemptive evacuation of people in flood-prone areas in Luzon and the central Philippines.

According to the weather bureau, the typhoon will weaken gradually and likely become slow-moving to almost stationary by Tuesday while over the waters east of Batanes, the northernmost province of the Philippines.

xinhua