The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) raised red alert status as several areas in the country were placed under storm warning signal number one due to Tropical Depression ''Aghon''

Director Edgar Posadas, Office of Civil Defense (OCD) spokesperson, said the red alert status where all of the personnel of the NDRRMC member agencies are required to monitor situation in the affected areas was raised around 5 pm Friday.

Signal number one was raised over the areas of Sorsogon, Albay, Catanduanes, Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte (San Vicente, San Lorenzo Ruiz, Basud, Daet, Talisay, Mercedes), and Masbate including Ticao and Burias Islands all in Luzon and in areas of Eastern Samar, Samar, Northern Samar, Leyte, Southern Leyte, Biliran, Cebu (San Remigio, Tabogon, City of Bogo, Medellin, Daanbantayan, Borbon) including Camotes Islands, Bantayan Islands and Bohol (Pres. Carlos P. Garcia, Bien Unido, Trinidad, Anda, Candijay, Ubay, Mabini, Alicia, San Miguel, Talibon) in Visayas.

In Mindanao, Dinagat Islands, Surigao del Norte including Siargao and Bucas Grande Islands, Surigao del Sur, Agusan del Sur (Sibagat, City of Bayugan, Prosperidad, San Francisco, Rosario, Bunawan, Trento), and Agusan del Norte were also placed under signal number one.

As of 5pm, Aghon was spotted at 135 kilometers northeast of Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur or 185 kilometers east southeast of Surigao City, Surigao del with maximum sustained winds of 55 km/h near the center and gusts of up to 70 km while moving west northwestward at the speed of 30km/h.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said ''Aghon'' is expected to develop into a tropical storm before its landfall over the southern portion of eastern Samar from 2 am to 5 am of Saturday.

In a radio interview, Janis Medina, Surigao del Norte public information office chief said some sea voyages in the province were cancelled while pre-emptive evacuation were done in the coastal towns and other flood and landslide prone areas.

Medina said some flights were also cancelled.

"As long as there is visibility, the airplane can still land, but the other flights in the morning were already cancelled due to heavy rain. The (vessels) that are less than 150 metric tons were no longer allowed to sail, so only cargoes and RoRo's ( roll on-roll off) were allowed. The passenger boats have already stopped sailing," she said.

In Northern Samar, Josh Echano, Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) head hope that ''Aghon'' will no longer intensify into a severe tropical storm so that it will only bring enough rain needed to address the impact of El Nino in the province.

"The soil here has cracks due to an average heat index of 40 to 47 (degrees Celsius) in the past two months. So this is a much needed rain actually for our people here in Northern Samar," he said.

"Hopefully this will not intensify further into a severe tropical storm or storm level, so that the rain that it will bring will become a blessing in disguise for us," he added. Robina Asido/DMS