Severe tropical storm “Kristine” may be around until next week and may experience the Fujiwhara effect, according to Science and Technology Secretary Renato Solidum Jr. in a Palace briefing on Friday with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

“Essentially, Kristine will be in that area for a week more, until the end of next week. So that’s what we have to watch out for,” Solidum told the President.

After dumping rain in different parts of the country, “Kristine” is expected to loop back after exiting the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR).

According to Pagasa’s latest bulletin, “Kristine” is expected to exit the PAR on Friday afternoon to late evening.

However, the weather bureau is eyeing a possible recurvation of its path starting this Sunday, 27 October, and Monday, 28 October.

According to Pagasa weather forecaster Chenel Dominguez, the recurving track of storm “Kristine” is attributed to different factors such as the northeasterly wind flow, the southwesterly wind flow, and the tropical depression outside the PAR.

Dominguez noted, however, that the Fujiwhara effect, or the direct interaction between two storms, remained unlikely as both storms were at least 3,000 kilometers apart.

According to the weather forecaster, for a Fujiwhara effect, both storms must be at least 1,500 kilometers apart.

“Kristine” is expected to intensify into a typhoon as it ventures out to the West Philippine Sea. However, a possible weakening trend is expected early next week due to the effect of the northeasterly wind flow over the West Philippine Sea.

Due to the storm’s wide radius of 730 kilometers, storm warning signals may remain in the western seaboard of the country even if its center is already outside the PAR.

Meanwhile, the low pressure area outside the PAR has merged with Tropical Depression “Kong-Rey” which was spotted near Guam.

Kong-Rey is expected to enter the PAR this weekend and will be given the local name “Leon.”

Based on the satellite imagery of Windy.com, the storm is expected to move across the Philippine Sea before heading to Taiwan or Japan in the coming days.

Rising death toll

The Bicol Region is recovering from the wrath of “Kristine,” having incurred 26 deaths based on a report of Police Regional Office (PRO) 5.

The regional unit of the Philippine National Police said they are still validating the number of deaths, as well as the nine and three persons reported injured and missing, respectively.

PRO 5, based on a weather bulletin issued at 3 a.m., Friday, said that 314,309 persons, or 106,303 families, were evacuated from the Bicol region due to “Kristine.”

The police office said 586 barangays in Albay, 26 in Camarines Norte, 540 in Camarines Sur, and nine in Naga City were affected by the tropical storm.

In Catanduanes, Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office Catanduanes Operations head Bob Monterola said road clearing operations continued and all national roads were now passable.

During the Palace briefing, Interior and Local Government Secretary Johnvic Remulla reported that Regions 4, 4-A, and 5 were the most heavily affected by Kristine.

“In the entire country, those affected were Regions 1, 2, 3, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, 5, 8, CAR and NCR.

Affected LGUs were 44 provinces, 73 cities, 733 municipalities and 14,666 barangays,” he said.

Remulla reported that 5,791 evacuation centers were operational, with 19,961 families evacuated.

“And 64,000 were served in the evacuation centers, 64,000 families. As of now, most have, except for the Naga region, most have returned to their homes. So we are still waiting for the reports on the status of the evacuation centers. But no reports of crimes against people in evacuation centers,” according to Remulla.

He said most of the deaths occurred in Batangas and in Naga City where landslides are reported.

Remulla said that seven people were still missing, and 10 were confirmed dead in the Naga area.

Ports not spared

For his part, Transportation Secretary Jimmy Bautista said the ports were not spared from the wrath of “Kristine,” with 115 ports affected and 10,236 passengers and 2,699 rolling cargo stranded.

To help in rescue efforts, the Philippine Coast Guard has deployed 226 teams to help 142,000 individuals in 11 regions.

“There were some fishermen reported missing — one in Barangay Poro, City of San Fernando, and the other in the vicinity of Buenavista, Quezon. The PCG and PPA have extended assistance to all these affected individuals. And I think one of the biggest affected is the Matnog Port. Until now, no movement of vessels. However, the PCG will allow the vessels to sail if the weather condition improves,” Bautista said.

For the airports, Bautista said all were operating as there were no reports of major damage.

“The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines and DoTr are on standby in all the airports so we can coordinate for possible distribution or transport of relief goods. We are coordinating with all the other agencies,” Bautista told the President.

There were 67 delayed flights from 1 to 24 October and some 29,000 passengers were affected either by delayed flights, canceled flights, or diverted flights.

“So these are the regions affected as mentioned earlier: 10,475 passengers were stranded, 111 vessels and 2,839 rolling cargo,” he said.