Typhoon Pedring : Brings Floods and Strong Winds to Manila and Rest of Luzon, Becomes Top Twitter Trending Topic

At around 1130 this morning, I was awoken by heavy rains battering the tin roof. I stood up, looked out my bedroom window and saw that the street was already covered by knee-high murky waters. It rarely happens. The last time I saw much flood in front of our house in Manila was last year, during Ondoy.

Typhoon Pedring has turned out to be a super typhoon; CNN has even called it 'dangerous'.

According to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), at around 11AM, the center of Pedring with international name Nesat was located at 80 km E of Baguio City (16.5N, 121.4E). By 4 o'clock this afternoon, the typhoon will exit the country via the West Philippine Sea. Nonetheless, the agency has warned that most of Luzon will be continue to be affected by strong winds and heavy rains throughout the day.

As of 5AM, PAGASA announced these storm signals for various provinces in the country:

Signal No.3 (100-185 kph winds)

Ilocos Norte
Ilocos Sur
Abra
Apayao
Kalinga
Mt. Province
Cagayan
Isabela
Ifugao
Benguet
La Union
Nueva Viscaya
Quirino
Aurora
Nueva Ecija
Tarlac
Pangasinan
Zambales

Signal No. 2 (60-100 kph winds)

Pampanga
Bulacan
Bataan
Rizal
Northern Quezon
Polillo is.
Cavite
Laguna
Batangas
Lubang is.
Babuyan
Calayan group of islands
Metro Manila

Signal No. 1 (45-60 kph winds)

Batanes
Oriental Mindoro
Occidental Mindoro
Marinduque
Burias Is.
Camarines Norte
Camarines Sur
Albay
Southern Quezon
Catanduanes
Calamian group of Is.
Romblon group of islands

Truly reflective of what's happening in our country, the hashtag related to Typhoon Pedring (#pedring) has achieved natural top trending status on Twitter: