MANILA, Philippines – Typhoon Lando may “linger” over Northern Luzon for at least two days, bringing continuous heavy rains to the area, state weather bureau PAGASA said on Saturday morning, October 17.

At a National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC) briefing on Saturday, Esperanza Cayanan of PAGASA said the typhoon is already approaching the island of Luzon, with heavy to intense rainfall within its 600-kilometer diameter.

‪”Sa ngayon ang scenario natin ay halos dalawang araw na may kaulapan dito sa Northern Luzon (As of now, our scenario is there will be almost two days of heavy rains over Northern Luzon),” Cayanan said, as she urged concerned communities to prepare for the worst.

Authorities said Northern Luzon should brace for heavy rains. The typhoon is expected to slightly weaken once it hits landmass, but Cayanan said it will remain of typhoon intensity. It will exit the landmass through Ilocos Norte “more or less” on Tuesday, October 20.

“Ito pong si Lando, hindi pangkaraniwang bagyo na isang araw lang dadaan. Base sa mga forecast, matagal, posibleng hanggang Martes (Lando is not an ordinary typhoon that will he gone in one day. Based on forecasts, it will stay longer, possibly until Tuesday),” NDRRMC Executive Director Alexander Pama stressed.

’24-hour heavy rains in Aurora’

The typhoon now has maximum sustained winds of 160 km/h and gustiness of up to 195 km/h. Lando will make landfall over the Aurora area on Sunday early morning, October 18, and is expected to linger there for 24 hours once it hits land.

“Nagbabadyang babagal [ang bagyo], at maaaring maging semi-stationary, mag-linger once na tumama sa Baler area (It’s threatening to slow down, and may become semi-stationary and linger once it hits the Baler area),” Cayanan explained.

She added: “Ito po ang posibleng pinaka-worst na mangyari para makapaghanda po tayo. Hindi po tayo nananakot, pero para tayo maghanda. Kung 24 hours nandoon ang bagyo, kung meron siyang heavy na ulan, 10-15 mm per hour, at kung tuloy-tuloy ang kanyang pagbuhos, tiyak po na babahain at magkakaroon ng mga landslide.” 

(This is possibly the worst that may happen,  so we can prepare for it. We are not scaring you, but we have to prepare. If the typhoon is there for 24 hours, if it has continuous heavy rains of 10-15 mm per hour, there will surely be flooding and landslides.)

The movement of Typhoon Lando will also be affected by another typhoon, Typhoon Champi.

“Habang ‘di umuusog yung high pressure, hindi makakataas itong si Champi. Habang hindi tumataas papalayo, hindi gaanong makakalayo si Lando (While the high pressure remains, Champi cannot move up. While it cannot move farther up, Lanod cannot move away),” Cayanan said. She likened the interaction of the two typhoons to that of Typhoon Ondoy and Typhoon Pepeng.

‪Four days after Typhoon Ondoy caused massive flooding in Metro Manila and other parts of Luzon, Typhoon Pepeng entered the country and worsened the the damage in the region. The estimated cost of damage is around $585,379 million.‬

Cayanan also warned coastal areas under storm warning signals that open sea wave  height can go up to around 14 meters. (READ: Typhoon Lando slightly intensifies)

“Napaka-dangerous sa mga sasakyang pandagat, sa mga coastal areas with gale warning. Binibigyan ng babala [na ang] coastal and sea activities kung puwede sanang i-cancel na natin (The situation is very dangerous for water vessels in coastal areas with a gale warning. There’s an advisory against coastal and sea activities, please cancel them),” she added. – Rappler.com