Filipino weather forecasters are facing criticism after giving the lowest alert rating to a tropical cyclone that left at least 26 dead and 26 missing around northern Philippines, including Metro Manila.

Workers of Caritas Manila told ucanews.com July 15 that the agency was preparing food relief packages of rice, sardines, corned beef, noodles and other rations.

The agency had received requests for relief goods for 452 families in Baseco district and 100 families in Santa Monica, Tondo.

Communities in Bulacan and Laguna provinces and Tayuman and Smokey Mountain areas of Metro Manila had also sought help.

The storm caught authorities by surprise.

Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) in its July 12 p.m. advisory said tropical cyclone Conson intensified into a tropical storm moving toward provinces north of Metro Manila.

PAGASA initially placed seven areas in northern Luzon Island under storm signal 1 – the lowest rating.

By July 12 the storm had changed course and hit Metro Manila with winds of 120 kilometers per hour, gusting to 150 kilometers per hour before slowing down around dawn July 13.

PAGASA on July 12 raised public storm signal No. 2 only over provinces of Catanduanes, Camarines Norte, Polilio Island, Aurora, Quirino and Isabela.

But the storm winds downed transmission lines on July 13 and cut off power supply around the northern Philippine Luzon Island.

Retired Major General Benito Ramos, executive officer of the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) on July 15 told reporters deaths had occurred mostly in Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon provinces.

Volunteers cleaning a road from fallen trees

People were reported missing in Metro Manila and the Bicol peninsula. Another 18 people onboard fishing boats which capsized around Quezon province east of Manila were also reported missing.

Ramos said at least 151,351 persons in 30,200 families were reportedly affected by Conson. They were in the Metro Manila region and 12 provinces of Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog and Bicol Region.

Up to 9,511 people from 1,946 families were being served at evacuation centers, Ramos said.

He also defended PAGASA director Prisko Nilo saying the official is only “as good as his radar.”

“We have to improve” government equipment, Ramos said in response to President Benigno Aquino III’s reported criticism during the previous day’s NDCC conference at Camp Aguinaldo of PAGASA’s poor forecasting.

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