This is something I should have posted last night but a subsequent brownout failed me. Oops!
As I write this, the rains are pounding in Manila because of typhoon Gener (international code name: Saola). It’s no fun in the Philippines at this time of year when the typhoon season arrives and you have traffic, brownouts, knee-deep floodwaters & other hassles because of inclement weather. As much as possible, I prefer not to travel in and out of the country during this time because of the threat of bad roads, flight turbulence and cancellations.
This kind of weather is only good for my kids – the students – since this means they won’t have to go to school (sorry DepEd) but even announcements of class suspensions come too late. I pity most the kids who have to brave through heavy rains, traffic and floods just to be told they have to go home again.
As of this morning, classes were suspended in most elementary and high schools in Metro Manila. As of 3:30 p.m., work was also called off in most government offices but traffic seemed to be light in our part of the road, with no flooding observed (Paranaque City)
Here’s the last weather forecast as of today, July 30, according to @PAGASA-DOST on Twitter:
– As of 07:50 pm , expect moderate to heavy rains over Naic, Tanza, Kawit, Imus, Bacoor and nearby areas in less than an hour.
as of 07:11 pm, moderate to heavy rains over La Union, Benguet and Ilocos Sur.
As of 6 pm today, the center of typhoon “GENER” was located based on satellite and surface data at 240 km East of Basco, Batanes (20.6°N, 124.6°E)
The Batanes group of islands and Cagayan including Calayan and Babuyan group of islands will experience stormy weather while Isabela, Kalinga and Apayao will have rains with gusty winds and the coastal waters along these areas will be rough to very rough. The rest of Luzon and Western Visayas will have cloudy skies with scattered to widespread rainshowers and thunderstorms which may trigger flashfloods and landslides. The rest of Visayas will be mostly cloudy with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms while Mindanao will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms.
Moderate to strong winds blowing from the southwest will prevail over Central and Southern Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao and coming from the northwest to west over the rest of Luzon. The coastal waters along these areas will be moderate to rough.
Here’s a listing of today’s cancelled flights:
Manila Domestic Terminal -ZestAir
Z2 260 – MNL-MASBATE
Z2 261 – MASBATE-MNL
Z2 410 – MNL-BUSUANGA
Z2 411 – BUSUANGA-MNL
NAIA Terminal 3 – Cebu Pacific
5J 529 – MNL-BUSUANGA
5J 530 – BUSUANGA-MNL
5J 504 – MNL-TUGUEGARAO
5J 505 – TUGUEGARAO-MNL
5J 531 – MNL-BUSUANGA
5J 532 – BUSUANGA-MNL
Some flights of Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific and AirPhil Express were also diverted to Clark international airport while some flights set to land in the NAIA terminals were simply delayed. Watch this page for more updates.