Coast Guard lifts travel ban

published January 6, 2009 in Leyte Samar Daily Express and BusinessWorld

TACLOBAN CITY — Close to 5,700 passengers stranded in various seaports in Allen, Northern Samar have been allowed to leave Sunday night after a tropical storm shifted course and veered away from Eastern Visayas.

"As of 8 p.m. of Sunday, there were no more stranded passengers in Allen ports," said Rey Gozon, operations officer of the Office of the Civil Defense in Eastern Visayas.

He said 255 Luzon-bound ferries have been prevented from leaving port since Saturday. The Philippine Coast Guard had banned sea travel in Samar, which had been placed under storm signal 1.

As of 11 a.m. yesterday, the weather bulletin issued by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said tropical storm Auring has shifted its course to the northeast and was moving away from the country.

The center of the storm was spotted 300 kilometers east of Catarman, Northern Samar with a strength of 55 kilometers per hour. "Occasional rains and moderate to strong winds are still expected over the Bicol region and the eastern section of Visayas," the weather bureau said. — SQM