All military units in northern, southern, and western Luzon were alerted in anticipation of the effects of Super Typhoon "Karding," the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said Sunday, Sept. 25.
Lt. Gen. Bartolome Vicente Bacarro, AFP Chief of Staff, instructed the Northern Luzon Command (NOLCOM), Southern Luzon Command (SOLCOM), Western Command (WESCOM), and all units under their joint operational control to prepare for possible humanitarian assistance and disaster response operations.
"We call on the public to be vigilant and cooperate with government authorities. Let us all do our part in keeping the damage low and averting casualties in the wake of this super typhoon," said Col. Jorry Baclor, chief of the AFP public affairs office.
Military trucks and personnel were mobilized to assist in the mandatory evacuation of residents in vulnerable areas ahead of Karding's anticipated landfall. The typhoon is expected to make landfall over the southern portion of Aurora or northern portion of Quezon on Sunday night, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa).
Meanwhile, air and naval assets were placed on standby for deployment as soon as the weather clears for aerial assessment, transport, and evacuation operations.
In its 1 p.m. bulletin, Pagasa said that Karding was last spotted 115 kilometers (km) east northeast of Infanta, Quezon or 76 km east of Polillo Islands.
It has maximum sustained winds of 195 kilometers per hour (kph), gustiness of up to 249 kph. It was moving westward at 29 kph.
Typhoon Signal No. 5 was raised over Polillo Islands, the extreme northern portion of Quezon (northern and central portions of General Nakar, the northeastern portion of Infanta), the extreme southern portion of Aurora (Dingalan), the eastern portion of Bulacan (Doña Remedios Trinidad, Norzagaray), and the extreme southeastern portion of Nueva Ecija (the southeastern portion of General Tinio).