PAGASA lifts signal warning as Betty weakens further

State weather bureau PAGASA has lifted the Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal warning over the country as Severe Tropical Storm Betty continued to weaken late Thursday morning.

In its 11 a.m. advisory, PAGASA said Betty, a former super typhoon with an international name of Mawar, is expected to exit the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) on Thursday afternoon.

As of 10 a.m., Betty was located at 570 kilometers northeast of Itbayat, Batanes packing maximum sustained winds of 100 kilometers per hour (km/h), gustiness of up to 125 km/h, and central pressure of 980 hPa.

Betty’s strong to storm-force winds extend outwards up to 660 km from the center. The cyclone was moving north northeastward at 10 km/h.

The Southwest Monsoon enhanced by Betty will bring occasional to frequent wind gusts over northern Cagayan including Babuyan Islands, Ilocos Region, Cordillera Administrative Region, Central Luzon, Metro Manila, CALABARZON, Bicol Region, MIMAROPA, Western Visayas, Northern Samar and the northern portion of Samar.

PAGASA warned of possible flooding and rain-induced landslides especially in areas prone to such hazards and those areas with considerable amounts of rainfall for the past several days.

Due to Betty and the Southwest Monsoon, a marine gale warning is still in effect over the northern seaboards of Northern Luzon, the eastern seaboard of Luzon, and the western seaboard of Southern Luzon, PAGASA said.

Betty is expected to gradually accelerate northward or north northeastward until Thursday afternoon before turning northeastward or east northeastward over the waters near the Ryukyu Islands in Japan. —Joviland Rita/KBK, GMA Integrated News