DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/21 March) — It’s summer but the weather bureau has warned residents of Caraga and Davao regions in Mindanao and Eastern and Central Visayas of cloudy skies with moderate to occasionally heavy rainshowers and thunderstorms which may trigger flashfloods and landslides due to a low pressure area (LPA).
In its 5 p.m. advisory on Thursday, March 21, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said the LPA was estimated at 170 kms southeast of Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur as of 4 p.m. Thursday.
In its 5 a.m. advisory, the LPA was spotted at 180 kms southeast of Hinatuan.
In its 24-hour special weather forecast issued at 11 a.m. Thursday for Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental, the two provinces hardest hit by Typhoon Pablo on December 4, PAGASA said the two provinces will have “cloudy skies with light to moderate rains and thunderstorms today but partly cloudy to at times cloudy with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms tomorrow.”
“Winds will be moderate to strong easterlies to northeasterlies with moderate to rough seas,” it said.
Last month, two persons were killed in Compostela Valley province while two persons in Lanao del Norte were injured as tropical depression Crising swept across Mindanao on February 19.
Twenty-one of 26 Mindanao provinces were placed under public storm warning signal as of 5 p.m. on February 19 but the number went down to only one — Zamboanga del Norte — by11 a.m. on February 20 as Crising moved over Moro Gulf and on to the Sulu Sea.
After Typhoon Pablo on December 4, an LPA was spotted towards Caraga and Davao regions, with an expected landfall in Dinagat islands on December 26. The LPA, which intensified into Typhoon Quinta, made landfall in Eastern Visayas instead. On January 2, another LPA was also spotted near the same regions, later intensifying into what would be known as Typhoon Auring. (MindaNews)