Typhoon Kiko (Chanthu) made landfall in Ivana, Batanes, at 8:30 am on Saturday, September 11, bringing intense rain and very destructive winds.

Ivana is a municipality in Batan Island in the Philippines’ northernmost province of Batanes.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) announced Kiko’s landfall on its social media accounts.

PAGASA earlier said in its 8 am bulletin on Saturday that Kiko still has maximum sustained winds of 215 kilometers per hour and gustiness of up to 265 km/h.

Kiko is very near super typhoon category, as a super typhoon has maximum sustained winds exceeding 220 km/h. (READ: FAST FACTS: Tropical cyclones, rainfall advisories)

But Kiko is now expected to maintain its strength for the next 12 hours, or until early Saturday evening. It may even begin weakening later on Saturday or on Sunday, September 12, as it undergoes another eyewall replacement cycle.

As of 8 am, only the following areas remain under tropical cyclone wind signals:

Signal No. 4 (very destructive typhoon-force winds)

• Batanes
• northeastern part of Babuyan Islands (Babuyan Island)

Signal No. 3 (destructive typhoon-force winds)

• northwestern part of Babuyan Islands (Panuitan Island, Calayan Island)

Signal No. 2 (damaging gale-force to storm-force winds)

• rest of Babuyan Islands

Signal No. 1 (strong winds)

• mainland Cagayan
• Apayao
• northern part of Ilocos Norte (Adams, Dumalneg, Bangui, Vintar, Carasi, Nueva Era, Piddig, Solsona, Burgos, Pasuquin, Bacarra, Laoag City, San Nicolas, Sarrat, Dingras, Pagudpud)

PAGASA maintained its rainfall forecast for the typhoon on Saturday, warning that scattered to widespread floods and landslides may still hit some provinces in Northern Luzon.

Heavy to intense rain, with at times torrential rain

• Babuyan Islands
• Batanes

Moderate to heavy rain, with at times intense rain

• Cagayan
• Ilocos Norte
• Ilocos Sur
• Abra
• Apayao
• Kalinga

There also remains a moderate to high risk of life-threatening storm surges 2 to 3 meters high occurring on Saturday.

“Rising seawater along with the high waves from the shoreline moving inland may cause flooding in the low-lying coastal localities of Batanes and northeastern Cagayan including Babuyan Islands,” PAGASA said.

Sea travel remains dangerous in areas affected by Kiko.

Rough to phenomenal seas (waves 2.5 to 15 meters high)

Travel risky for all vessels, mariners advised to remain in port

• seaboards of areas under tropical cyclone wind signals

Moderate to rough seas (waves 1.2 to 3.5 meters high)

Travel risky for small vessels, mariners advised to avoid navigation

• eastern seaboards of Northern Luzon and Central Luzon that are not under tropical cyclone wind signals

Beginning Sunday, Kiko may move north or north northeast and pass over the sea east of Taiwan. Landfall in Taiwan, which is still within the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR), is not ruled out.

The typhoon may also weaken as it interacts with Taiwan’s rugged terrain.

Finally, Kiko might leave PAR on Sunday evening or early Monday morning, September 13. Once outside, it will move north or north northeast over the East China Sea.

PAGASA

Kiko is also enhancing the southwest monsoon or hanging habagat, which is bringing rain to these areas on Saturday:

• Metro Manila
• rest of Ilocos Region
• rest of Cordillera Administrative Region
• western parts of Central Luzon and Southern Luzon

Coastal and upland areas in Luzon that are not under a tropical cyclone wind signal may experience occasional gusts due to the enhanced southwest monsoon, too.

A gale warning was also issued for the following seaboards, with waves 2.8 to 4.5 meters high:

• seaboards of Zambales and Bataan
• western seaboards of Palawan including Calamian and Kalayaan Islands and Occidental Mindoro including Lubang Islands

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Kiko is the Philippines’ 11th tropical cyclone for 2021.

An average of 20 tropical cyclones form within or enter PAR each year. (READ: LIST: PAGASA’s names for tropical cyclones in 2021)

For the next six months, these are PAGASA’s estimates for the number of tropical cyclones inside PAR:

2021

• September – 2 or 3
• October – 2 or 3
• November – 2 or 3
• December – 1 or 2

2022

• January – 0 or 1
• February – 0 or 1

– Rappler.com