Tropical Storm Vinta continued to weaken and change course after it made landfall over Davao Region at 1:45 a.m. Friday, said state weather bureau PAGASA mid-day today.
According to PAGASA Bohol officer-in-charge Leonard Samar, Bohol will no longer be directly hit by the storm which continues to traverse northern Mindanao.
“There were changes as it [storm] went down closer to the Mindanao region and in the next bulletin, it still went further down,” said Samar in Cebuano.
“The storm did not leave the land mass of Davao and go into the waters between Bohol and Davao—Bohol and Mindanao Seas,” he added.
However, Bohol remained under Storm Signal Number 1 as of 2 p.m. Friday.
The center of Vinta was spotted in the vicinity of Marawi City, Lanao del Sur.
It was packing maximum sustained winds of 65 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 110 kph, said PAGASA in its 2 p.m. bulletin.
Before Vinta changed course, Samar on Thursday night pointed out the possibility of the southern part of Bohol including Tagbilaran City to be within the 200-km radius of the storm.
The weather disturbance was previously projected to go near the tip of Misamis Occidental which is less than 100 km away from Bohol.
Had the storm maintained last night’s projected course, Bohol would have been placed under Storm Signal Number 2 based on Samar’s pronouncement. (AD)