Storm signals, in plain terms
PAGASA raises a Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal for the whole province. This is what each number means for your day.
The signal is raised for the province, not for your street. Negros Oriental is long and the mountains split it. Dumaguete can be calm while Bais is being hit. So read the signal as a warning, not as a description of what you can see out the window.
When the rain comes
Dumaguete does not have a dry season the way Manila or Cebu does. Rain is possible in any month. There is a wetter half of the year and a drier one, but the gap is smaller than you would expect.
What floods, and where
Street flooding here is usually about drainage and tide rather than the amount of rain. It clears fast — often within an hour of the rain stopping.
- The low streets behind the boulevard pool quickly when heavy rain meets a high tide.
- Anywhere near the Banica and Okoy rivers rises fast during sustained upland rain, even when it is not raining in town.
- Piapi and the shoreline barangays take storm surge, which is the real danger in a typhoon rather than the wind.
- Junctions with blocked drains flood repeatedly in the same spots. Locals know them, which is why the forum is worth reading before you drive.
Residents post the current state of the roads on the Alerts board. It is the fastest picture of what is passable right now, because it comes from people who just drove it.
Power, water, and internet
- Brownouts follow storms rather than accompanying them. The lights often stay on through the wind and go out afterwards, when crews cut power to clear lines safely.
- Charge everything the day before a signal is raised. A power bank matters more here than a torch.
- Water pressure drops or stops when the pumps lose power. Fill containers early.
- Mobile data usually outlasts fibre. When the internet goes, the network often still carries messages.
- Cash before the storm. ATMs and card terminals are the first things to stop working, and they are the last to come back.
Travel and the sea
- Ferries stop before the airport does. Small craft are held back at Signal 1 and most sailings end at Signal 2.
- Check with the operator, not the forecast. Coast Guard clearance is what decides it, and that decision often comes the same morning.
- Flights are cancelled late. Sibulan handles weather better than the sea does, so a cancelled ferry does not mean a cancelled flight.
- Build in a spare day in October and November if you have a flight to catch from Cebu or Manila.
Before a storm, in this order: cash out, charge up, fill water. Then two days of food. Park away from trees and power lines, and tell someone where you are. Everything else can wait.