Ursula slows down, now over West PHL Sea

Typhoon Ursula, which lashed the Visayas and parts of Luzon on Christmas Day, slightly slowed down and was over West Philippine Sea as of early Thursday morning, according to PAGASA's latest bulletin.

As a result, Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal (TCWS) was lifted for the northwestern portions of Aklan and Antique, western portion of Romblon, Marinduque, southwestern portion of Quezon, Laguna, and some portions of extreme northern Palawan including Cuyo Islands.

However, still under TCWS #2 is:

• Calamian Islands (Coron, Culion, Busuanga)

On the other hand, areas under TCWS #1 included:

• Bataan,
• Cavite,
• Batangas,
• Oriental Mindoro,
• Occidental Mindoro including Lubang Island,
• and the rest of extreme northern Palawan (Linapacan, El Nido)

According to PAGASA's 5 a.m. bulletin, occasional to frequent heavy rains over Calamian Islands and Occidental Mindoro including Lubang Island will prevail throughout the day, while light to moderate with intermittent heavy rains were expected over Oriental Mindoro, rest of extreme northern Palawan, CALABARZON, Metro Manila, and Central Luzon.

"Residents in these areas are advised to take appropriate measures to reduce the potential impact of flooding and rain-induced landslides, especially in areas identified to be highly to very highly susceptible to these hazards," PAGASA said.

PAGASA also noted that rough sea conditions will prevail over the seaboards of areas under TCWS. "Sea travel remains risky over these areas," it said.

As of 4 a.m. Thursday, Ursula was located at 155 km northwest of Coron, Palawan (12.9°N, 119.1°E) packing maximum sustained winds of up to 130 km/h near the center and gustiness of up to 160 km/hr.  It was moving west northwest at 15 km/h.

Ursula is forecast to exit the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) on Saturday morning. —KBK, GMA News