(Eagle News) — Classes in all levels were suspended for Thursday, October 20, in Metro Manila and most areas of Luzon where public storm warning signals had been raised, in anticipation of the expected onslaught of supertyphoon “Lawin” (international name Haima).
The announcement was made as early as Wednesday night.
Provinces under public storm warning signal number 1 as of Wednesday night have also suspended classes in all levels, both in public and private schools, including Pampanga, Batangas, Laguna, and Zambales.
This came about as typhoon “Lawin” maintained its strength with maximum sustained winds of up to 225 kilometers per hour and gustiness of up to 315 kph.
As of 8 p.m., there were six provinces under storm warning signal number 5. These are Cagayan, Isabela, Kalinga, Apayao, Northern Abra and Ilocos Norte.
The rest of Abra, Ilocos Sur, Mt. Province, Ifugao and Calayan Group of Islands were under signal number 4, while La Union, Benguet, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino and Northern Aurora were under signal number 3.
The Batanes Group of Islands, Pangasinan, Rest of of Aurora, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, Northern Zambales, and Northern Quezon including Polillo Islands were under signal number 2.
Classes in all levels in these areas were also suspended.
As of 7 p.m., the eye or center of supertyphoon Lawin was located based on all available data at 175 km East Northeast of Casiguran, Aurora or at 200 km East Southeast of Tuguegarao City (17.1°N, 123.5°E).