A tropical storm is nearing the Philippines, triggering fresh alarm in the eastern Bicol region already devastated by the impact of Supertyphoon Durian, government agencies said yesterday.
The storm, codenamed "Utor," was charted at 10am yesterday 550km east of Samar, moving west at 24kph, the government weather station said. The storm has strengthened, packing maximum winds of 85kph near the center as it moves towards the central islands of Samar and Panay.
Although the storm is not expected to directly hit the devastated Bicol region, at the southern end of the main northern island of Luzon, Florentino Sison, operations chief of the civil defense agency, warned it could have a wider impact.
"It could have a big impact on the area," he said, including the parts of Bicol where last week's Typhoon Durian triggered deadly volcanic mudflows.
The threat of Utor has led officials to raise a four-step storm alert over Samar to the second level.
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