Pagasa eyes raising storm signals starting Tuesday noon

State weather forecasters do not expect to raise storm warning signals over any area in Luzon threatened by typhoon "Ramil" (Lupit) until Tuesday noon. Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) chief Prisco Nilo said Monday that rains may start falling over the eastern part of Northern Luzon Tuesday. "Hanggang bukas ng tanghali wala pang direktang epekto si Ramil sa ating bansa (We do not expect Ramil' to have any effect on the country until Tuesday noon)," Nilo said in an interview on dzXL radio. Nilo said the cyclone remains on course to make landfall on extreme Northern Luzon, likely in Northern Cagayan. On the other hand, Pagasa forecaster Ben Oris said the typhoon has started moving again, and is heading for provinces in North Luzon. "Dito maaaring tatama ang bagyo sa may Northern Luzon, sa Cagayan, sa Isabela at Ilocos, kasama ang La Union (It is heading for Northern Luzon, Cagayan, Isabela, Ilocos and La Union)," he said in an interview on dzBB radio. Ramil's location As of 4 a.m. Monday, Pagasa said Ramil was estimated at 1,160 km east of Aparri, Cagayan, with maximum sustained winds of 175 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 210 kph. It was moving northwest slowly and is expected to be 1,070 km east of Aparri, Cagayan. By Wednesday morning it is expected to be 720 km east northeast of Aparri, Cagayan. By Thursday morning it is expected to be 350 km east northeast of Aparri, Cagayan. "Luzon and Visayas will experience mostly cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms. The rest of the country will be partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms," Pagasa said in its 5 a.m. bulletin. Light to moderate winds blowing from the northwest to west will prevail over Northern Luzon and coming from the southwest to west over the rest of the country, it said. Coastal waters throughout the archipelago will be slight to moderate except during thunderstorms, it added. Bracing for disaster Over the weekend, government disaster-response agencies began coordinating to prepare for the onslaught of typhoon Ramil. Various line agencies prepared to set up evacuation centers, assign health personnel on 24/7 duty, and move packed goods to northern Luzon, where the storm is expected to make landfall. Last Saturday afternoon, the NDCC alerted its regional offices in Luzon and ordered the dissemination of advisories and discharge warnings to regional units of the Office of Civil Defense and also asked local government units to submit status reports on their level of preparedness. - GMANews.TV