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‘Mina’ death toll rises to 12 as storm moves away from RP


(Updated 1:46 p.m.) The death toll from tropical storm "Mina" (international name: Mitag) rose to 12 as authorities recover additional bodies of typhoon victims, the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) said Tuesday. In its report as of 6 a.m., the NDCC said the 12 included eight from Bicol and four from the Cordillera Autonomous Region. The report also said at least one was injured while four remain missing. Those missing were identified as: Reiner Abawag of Conner, Apayao; missing pilots Capt. Bonifacio Soriano and Capt. Gavino Mercado whose plane was reported missing in Palawan Monday; and Jun-Jun Rebiliedo, 20, of Cagayan. At least 100,588 families or 443,109 people from 899 villages from 121 towns in 19 provinces in Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Central and Southern Luzon, Bicol, Eastern Visayas and Cordillera were affected. Of these, 44,999 families or 201,329 people were brought to 668 evacuation centers. In Cagayan Valley where "Mina" made landfall, 6,016 families or 26,846 people mostly from Maconacon town in Isabela province are presently staying in 56 evacuation centers after they were displaced by heavy rains. But most of the evacuees are still from Bicol, with 36,570 families or 166,398 people preemptively evacuated from low-lying, lahar-prone areas and coastal areas. The Agriculture Department estimated 6,075 hectares of crops worth P109.648 million were damaged, including 2,671 hectares rice, 1,973 hectares cor and 1,431 hectares high-value crops. Meanwhile, "Mina" continued to weaken as it moved further away from the Philippines and towards the southern islands of Japan Tuesday morning, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said. In its 5 a.m. weather bulletin, Pagasa said that as of 4 a.m., "Mina" was located 50 kilometers west-northwest of Basco, Batanes or 260 km north-northeast of Laoag City. Pagasa said "Mina" was packing maximum sustained winds of 75 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 90 kph. The storm was moving northeast at 15 kilometers per hour (kph) and was due 300 km northeast of Basco, Batanes or 210 km south of Okinawa, Japan by Wednesday morning. By Thursday morning, it is due 670 km northeast of Basco, Batanes or 340 km east of Okinawa, Japan. By Friday morning it is expected to be 1,060 km northeast of Basco, Batanes or 690 km east northeast of Okinawa, Japan. Still under Signal 2 are: • The Batanes Group of Islands, and • The Babuyan Group of Islands. While those under Signal 1 include: • Cagayan, • Apayao, and • Ilocos Norte. Another weather disturbance, "Lando" (Hagibis) - which is now classified as a tropical depression, a notch lower than its previous status - continued to pose a threat to the Palawan-Mindoro area as it continued to move east-northeast, Pagasa said. "Lando" was estimated to be 200 km northwest of Puerto Princesa as of 4 a.m., packing maximum sustained winds of 55 kph near the center. It was moving east northeast at 19 kph and was due 60 km southeast of Calapan City by Wednesday morning. By Thursday morning it was due 130 km northeast of Daet, Camarines Norte. By Friday morning it is due 490 km east of Casiguran, Aurora. Areas under Signal No. 1 due to “Lando" are: • Oriental Mindoro, • Occidental Mindoro, • Lubang Island, • Romblon, • Marinduque, • Batangas, • Palawan and • The Calamian Group of Islands. On the other hand, state weather forecasters said a third disturbance, "Nonoy," is likely to enter Philippine territory this week as an active low-pressure area. Pagasa warned residents in low-lying areas and near mountain slopes against possible flashfloods and landslides. It warned those in coastal areas to be alert for big waves. Batanes and Babuyan group of islands will experience stormy weather. Cagayan, Apayao, Ilocos Norte, Palawan including the Calamian group and the western section of Southern Luzon will have rains and gusty winds and the coastal waters along these areas will be moderate to rough. The rest of Northern Luzon will be having cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms. Central Luzon will be mostly cloudy with scattered rainshowers isolated thunderstorms while the rest of the country will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms. Moderate to strong winds blowing from the northwest to southwest will prevail over the rest of Luzon and its coastal waters will be moderate to rough. Elsewhere, winds will be light to moderate blowing from the southwest to west with slight to moderate seas. - GMANews.TV
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