LGUs told to prepare for Super Typhoon Mawar

Local government units have been directed to prepare for the possible effects of Super Typhoon Mawar, which is still outside the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR).

The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) issued an advisory telling LGUs, especially those in areas with recent experience of extended or prolonged rain occurrences and/or landslides or floods, to continue to monitor all PAGASA weather advisories and typhoon bulletins.

LGUs must also utilize HazardHunterPH to generate indicative hazard assessment reports for their respective jurisdictions and strictly implement critical preparedness actions.

If deemed necessary, LGUs must conduct preemptive evacuation and avoid areas affected by repeated flooding and landslides, meandering rivers with hillsides/riverbank erosion, floodplains with shifting and braiding streams, coastal areas affected by storm surge, flash flood areas, and river deltas with many distributary channels, among others.

According to PAGASA, Mawar is expected to enter PAR on Friday or Saturday and will be given the local name Betty.

It is expected to traverse near the extreme Northern Luzon and enhance the southwesterly windflow beginning on Friday, which may affect the western parts of the country.

As of 3 a.m. Wednesday, Mawar was located 2,215 kilometers east of Visayas, with maximum sustained winds of 185 kilometers per hour near the center and gustiness of up to 230 km/h. It was moving northwestward slowly.

“With the advisories given by PAGASA, we need to brace ourselves and get ready to avoid casualties and other damages expected to be brought about by this potential weather disturbance,” DILG Secretary Benhur Abalos said in a statement on Wednesday.