April 7 ------ Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Secretary Renato Solidum Jr. said that the impacts of the ongoing El Niño would continue until August.
At a Palace press briefing, Solidum provided the figures on how many provinces will be affected by the drought and dry spell due to the phenomenon from April to August. "The forecast for the ongoing effects of El Niño would continue for April – we have 48 provinces to be affected by drought; 24 dry spell; but by May, it will be 54 provinces to be provinces to be affected by drought and 10 dry spell. So, almost the same if you combine both the drought and dry spell but the drought-affected provinces will continue to persist based on DOST-PAGASA’s outlook – 25 by June, 23 by July and 10 by August," Solidum said.
The DOST chief also said there would still be some provinces affected by the combined effect of El Niño and the preparation for La Niña. "Hence, we need to continue doing the operations for El Niño preparedness but also keeping in mind that we need to prepare for La Niña in the second half of the year," he said.
Earlier, Solidum said that there is a 62% chance that the country will experience La Niña by June.
Source: gmanetwork.com