MANILA - Tropical Storm Agaton left the Philippine area of responsibility on Wednesday, after flooding areas devastated by back-to-back storms during the Christmas holidays, the state weather bureau said.

The eye of the storm was spotted 440 kilometers west northwest of Puerto Princesa City at 1 p.m., packing maximum sustained winds of 65 kilometers per hour with 85 kph gusts, PAGASA said.

The first storm to hit the country this year, Agaton hit land 6 times roughly a week after Urduja (Kai-tak) and Vinta (Tembin) left nearly 300 people killed in floods and landslides.

All tropical cyclone warning signals were lifted, the weather bureau said.

Moderate to heavy rains are expected over the Bicol region and in the provinces of Rizal, Aurora, and Quezon due to the tail-end of a cold front, PAGASA said.

Sea travel remains risky off Northern and Southern Luzon, the eastern seaboard of Central Luzon, eastern and western seaboards of Visayas, and the eastern seaboard of Mindanao due to the surge of the northeast monsoon or amihan.

The first storm to hit the country this year, Agaton made 6 landfalls in Visayas and Mindanao, devastating areas still reeling from back-to-back Christmas storms before leaving the Philippines.