Hours passed until Frank's strength had been felt over the area. By then, nothing is heard from the local weather bureau about other possible tracks of the typhoon. Electricity were cut down before midnight and residents of Southern Tagalog, partcularly those in Lucena City, where I reside, remained unaware about the looming danger brought about by the typhoon that was about to pass, which is relatively contrasting to the announcements of PAGASA. Before electricity was cut down, Quezon province and nearby provinces remained at signal number 2.
What is irritating over this matter is that two international weather bureaus namely Japan Meteorological Agency and Hong Kong Observatory have predicted the typhoon to pass the Southern Tagalog region during the time that the typhoon was already in Romblon (that was before PAGASA's 5PM weather bulletin, June 21) compared to the Mindoro area which PAGASA expected.
With the local weather bureau's last forecast before electricity went out, residents of Southern Tagalog region went to sleep devoid of any anxiety caused by the approaching typhoon only to wake up early midnight with winds and rains cruelly thrashing and destroying everything on their way. Because of their failure to prepare, many unfortunate residents whose houses have no match for the typhoon was left with no other choice but to leave their place without a "good fight" with the tempest. Roofs flew, houses and belongings were left drenched by rainwater.
The point is, if PAGASA would have announced the possibilty of another track, residents would have been at least given the chance to make a little preparation to save their lives and property. But what they did is to stick to what they see as the most probable track of the typhoon.
I don't know if they mentioned about some possibilities of another track with the media which they might have failed to pay a little attention with; but I guess, if they did, somehow, the media would have warned the public firsthand.
Another thing, given that PAGASA failed to warn the residents of Southern Tagalog region before electricity went off and before they went to sleep, I expected the local government units to have made a house to house announcement of the possibility that the typhoon might cross the region together with some help they could offer if that time comes. [Of course, they would have done something if and only if PAGASA or the National Disaster Coordinating Council alerted the LGUs] But the typhoon came and went, yet I never heard anything from these government agencies - that is, in Lucena; I don't know if other town officials became more responsible.
This is actually strike two for PAGASA, because as far as I recall, with regards to typhoon Mitag, they predicated it to pass the direction of Albay, Quezon and Manila, but it ended up making landfall in Isabela, which, long before the weather disturbance earned a typhoon status, all international weather bureaus as well as international news networks such as CNN and BBC forecasted it to travel the same way as it actually did.
I do not intend to degrade PAGASA, but what I want to say is that if they would have announced other possible paths that the typhoon might trail, residents would have been alerted and necessary preparations would have been created. I would be happier than frightened if they announced that a typhoon will travel right over our place but ends up to other places that waking up with your house unroofed and your property, or worse life of family members gone. By the way, there's no harm with being ready, am I right?
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