MANILA — Nearly 5,000 people have fled to safer ground on Monday as typhoon Betty moved closer to northern Luzon, authorities said, adding that they were ready to provide aid.

"Based sa ating report this morning, meron po tayong preemptive evacuation sa 3 regions na, na close to 4,831 persons," National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) spokesperson Assistant Secretary Raffy Alejandro said.

This figure covers evacuations in Western Visayas, Central Luzon, and Mimaropa, which were hit by rains from the southwest monsoon or habagat enhanced by Betty, he told ABS-CBN's TeleRadyo.

The official said the figure is expected to rise as the evacuation tally from the northern provinces of Cagayan and Batanes comes in.

"Ang talagang binabantayan natin, itong eastern seaboard ng Cagayan. Kasama na d'yan iyong Sta. Ana hanggang Batanes kasi ito talaga, iyong entry point ng bagyo ay d'yan po. Iyong gale warning nakataas... matataas ang alon d'yan sa coastal communities nila," he said.

(We are monitoring the eastern seaboard of Cagayan. That includes Sta. Ana and Batanes because that will be the typhoon's entry point. The gale warning is up over those areas, their coastal communities will sea rough waves.)

@patrolngpilipino Ramdam na ang malakas na hanging dala ni #BettyPH. Ang mga residente sa tabing-dagat sa Santa Ana, Cagayan ay naghanda na rin sa maaaring dalang pinsala ng bagyo sa kanilang mga bahay at kabuhayan. Panoorin sa report ni @dennisdatu42. #PatrolNgPilipino #fyp #Reporter #DennisDatu #ABSCBN #ABSCBNNews #MobileJournalism #Journalism #Kapamilya #News #Philippines #weatherph #weather #weatherupdate #BagyongBetty #Mawar #TyphoonBetty #Cagayan #SantaAna #fisherfolk #banca #typhoonsignal ♬ original sound - Patrol ng Pilipino

Betty is expected to dump heavy rains over Batanes, Babuyan Islands, the northern portion of mainland Cagayan, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, Abra, and Benguet until Wednesday morning, PAGASA said.

The typhoon is also enhancing the habagat, which may affect the eastern portion of Central Luzon, eastern and southern portions of Southern Luzon, and most of Visayas, the state weather forecaster added.

Some 14,000 military, police, and coast guard personnel are on alert to help local governments with the typhoon response, NDRRMC's Alejandro said.

FOOD PACKS

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The Department of Social Welfare and Development said some 800,000 food packs had been deployed across the country.

According to Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian, a "big chunk" of relief assistance were allocated in northern Luzon, the projected path of the typhoon. Some 80,000 food packages were prepositioned in Cagayan while at least 40,000 were delivered in Ilocos Region, he said.

"We created 2 supply chain lines. This is the first supply chain line. It's government driven. Warehouses of the national government and the local government put together in a series of networks for logistics management," he told ANC's "Headstart".

"The second line we are currently procuring, that is going to be private sector driven, meaning we're gonna tap into the existing framework of these big grocers because they already have infrastructure," he added.

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NCR READY

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Mayors in the capital region are also prepared for habagat rains, said San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora, president of the Metro Manila Council.

“Since Wednesday of last week we have been preparing already, in fact here in San Juan I’ve called for a city disaster risk reduction and management council meeting, and of course at the regional level here in Metro Manila we have done the same,” he told ANC.

“And I have been in constant communication with our MMDA chairman Atty. Don Artes and of course with our mayors… we have prepositioned our food packs, we have set up our evacuation centers,” the mayor added.

Metro Manila mayors are also studying possible long-term solutions to the flooding problem in the region, Zamora said.

“Just a month ago, the Metro Manila Mayors went to Netherlands to study their best practices, and one thing that we learned there, number one, a huge percentage of the Netherlands is below sea level. Why are they protected from water from the seas coming in? Because they have set up a lot of dams and dikes, which prevents water coming in,” he said.

“So this is something that we have studied during our visit. Of course we will see which among those practices can be applied here in Metro Manila.”

SEA TRIPS

The Philippine Coast Guard on Monday morning has yet to issue a no-sail advisory and had no record of stranded passengers at any port.

“Wala kaming in-issue na no-sail advisory sa buong Pilipinas kasi merong mga station commanders na in coordination with the shipping companies on their own accord na nag-suspend ng kanilang biyahe," PCG spokesperson Rear Admiral Armand Balilo said.

“Pero hindi naman nagkaroon ng stranded passengers dahil yung malalaking barko ay nagpatuloy pa rin ng biyahe," Balilo added.

(We did not issue any no-sail advisory because we have station commanders who are in coordination with the shipping companies, which on their own accord suspended their trips. But there are no stranded passengers because bigger ships pushed through with their trips.)

At least 8 sea trips were canceled on Monday as companies anticipated the impact of typhoon Betty.

Montenegro Shipping Lines and Antienza Interisland Ferries canceled their trips to and from Coron to El Nido and Culion.

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Bunso Transport also suspended its trip from Coron to San Jose Mindoro.

Meanwhile, Aleson Shipping Lines and Montenegro Shipping Line canceled trips to Dapitan.

Some schedules were moved to the next day.

As of 11 a.m., Betty was spotted 470 kilometers east of Aparri, Cagayan, packing maximum sustained winds of 155 kph near the center and 190 kph gusts.

The typhoon, with international name Mawar, is expected to leave the Philippine area of responsibility on Friday, the state weather bureau added.

— With a report from Jacque Manabat, ABS-CBN News

For more updates, visit the ABS-CBN weather center.