'Betty' continues to move northward over east of Taiwan—PAGASA


Typhoon Betty (international name: Mawar) continues to move northward over the sea east of Taiwan at 10 kilometers (km) per hour as of the 11 p.m. bulletin of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) on Wednesday, May 31.

The typhoon's center of the eye was spotted 450 km east-northeast of Itbayat, Batanes.

It has maximum sustained winds of 120 km per hour near the center, with gusts reaching up to 150 km per hour, the state weather bureau added.

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Courtesy of PAGASA

It is still estimated to exit the Philippine area of responsibility by Thursday evening, June 1, or Friday morning.

Tropical cyclone wind signal number 1 remains in effect over Batanes, but it will be lifted tomorrow if there are no significant changes in the track or extent of the typhoon's tropical cyclone winds, PAGASA said.

Meanwhile, a heavy rainfall advisory (50–100 millimeters of rain) was hoisted in La Union, Benguet, Ilocos Sur, and the southern portion of Abra.

"Under these conditions, flooding and rain-induced landslides are possible, especially in areas that are highly or very highly susceptible to these hazards as identified in hazard maps and in localities that experienced considerable amounts of rainfall for the past several days," PAGASA said.

Enhanced southwest monsoon or "habagat"

PAGASA warned that within the next 24 hours, the enhanced southwest monsoon, or habagat, will bring occasional to frequent wind gusts over northern Cagayan, including the 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.

A gale warning is still raised over the northern seaboards of Northern Luzon, the eastern seaboards of Luzon and Visayas, and the western seaboards of Southern Luzon.