MANILA, Philippines—The weather bureau is closely monitoring a shallow low-pressure area east of Luzon as temperatures in the country begin to drop due to the northeast monsoon, the cold air from the northern hemisphere.

“It could develop into a [weather disturbance] but at this point there’s no indication that it would happen,” Dr. Prisco Nilo, chief of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), said Sunday.

The shallow low-pressure area, spotted 610 kilometers east of Luzon, will bring scattered rain showers and thunderstorms, PAGASA said in a 24-hour weather forecast issued at 5 p.m. Sunday.

Typhoon “Santi” (international codename: Mirinae), the third storm to hit the country in just a month, was forecast to be 800 km west southwest of Metro Manila Sunday night.

For most of the week, Metro Manila and the cities of Tuguegarao, Laoag, Baguio, Olongapo, Angeles and Tagaytay will be partly cloudy to at times cloudy with isolated rain showers, PAGASA said.

The cities of Legazpi, Puerto Princesa, Iloilo, Bacolod, Cebu, Tacloban, Cagayan de Oro, Davao and Zamboanga will be partly cloudy to at times cloudy with isolated rain showers and thunderstorms.

Cold days ahead

Because of the northeast monsoon (amihan), mornings will start to become chilly.

On Sunday, the PAGASA Science Garden in Quezon City recorded the lowest temperature this month in Metro Manila at 19.8 degrees Celsius at 4:50 a.m.

It was slightly colder in Tagaytay and Cabanatuan where the minimum temperature was recorded at 19.5 degrees Celsius.

On Monday, the temperature is expected to dip to 15 degrees in Baguio City and 18 degrees in Tagaytay.

“The cold temperature came a bit early today because the typhoons induced the northeast monsoon,” Nilo said.

The northeast monsoon is the cold air from the northern hemisphere that blows into the country from the end of October to January.

Fourteen killed

Even as some parts of Metro Manila and other neighboring provinces remain submerged in floodwaters a day after Santi cut across Luzon, it left a “remarkably less” damage to the country, according to the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC).

The official death toll recorded on Sunday was 14, with Camarines Norte accounting for the biggest number with seven deaths.

At least four people were reported injured and four others still missing, said NDCC spokesperson Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres Jr.

Four people were killed in Laguna, one each in Quezon, Cavite and Catanduanes when Santi pummeled the Bicol and Calabarzon regions on Friday night before swiftly brushing through Metro Manila early Saturday morning, Torres said.

Homes destroyed

A total of 1,488 homes were destroyed. Some 2,000 families or 9,000 people from Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Bicol regions and Metro Manila were being provided temporary shelter in 32 evacuation centers.

(The Calabarzon region is composed of the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon while Mimaropa covers the provinces of Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan.)

In Bicol, at least 12 people died when Santi hit the region on Saturday, according to the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council (RDCC).

Santi’s strong winds and heavy rains destroyed 1,481 houses and damaged 4,276 in the provinces of Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur and Catanduanes.

There were 24 destroyed houses and 287 damaged ones in Catanduanes.

Lt. Col. Darwin Nieva, RDCC Bicol regional spokesperson, said that as of 10 p.m. Saturday, 12 deaths were reported in the two Camarines provinces and Catanduanes, with some of the victims still unidentified.

Albay had evacuated some 10,000 residents from the flood-prone areas as part of the province’s preemptive evacuation efforts.

Still flooded

The NDCC monitored knee-level flooding Sunday in two villages—Tanza and Daanghari—in Navotas; seven to 10-inch-deep floodwaters in Barangays Santolan and Kalawaan in Pasig City and knee-deep waters in Barangays Bagumbayan, Lower Bicutan and Ibayo-Tipas in Taguig City.

Eighty-five percent of Sta. Cruz, Laguna, remained inundated due to the swelling of Sta. Cruz River. The water in Barangay San Pablo Norte was six feet high.

Barangays Santisima Cruz and San Pablo Sur were still submerged in waist-deep floodwaters, which were leg-deep in neighboring Barangay Inang-Awa.

Three barangays in Calamba—Palingon, Lingga and Sanpiruhan—were still in waist-deep floodwaters. In Los Baños, Barangays Bagyog, Mayondon, Tadlak, Malinta, Bambang and Baybayin were also flooded.

Several villages in Mabitac, Pagsanjan and Sta. Rosa towns continued to experience heavy flooding. A large swath of Rizal still remains underwater as with other parts of three towns in Camarines Norte.

The use of ropes by the police and the tapping of hundreds of volunteer-traffic officers along Maharlika Highway in Quezon province resulted in a smooth flow of vehicles and people during All Saints’ Day.

Senior Supt. Elmo Francis Sarona, Quezon police chief, said police decided to put up long ropes along the sides of the road to protect people near cemeteries.

Brownout lingers

Several towns in Laguna remained without electricity, while a number of routes were still inaccessible to traffic.

Based on the 11 a.m. Sunday report of the Calabarzon RDCC, power supply in Mabitac, Lumban, Pakil, Paete, Luisiana, Majayjay, Liliw and Victoria towns in Laguna had yet to be restored.

The town of General Nakar and Alabat Island in Quezon province, as well as Talim Island in Rizal, also remained without electricity.

Meralco service

Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) said it had fully restored the power supply in all its 683 circuits, covering some 4.6 million registered customers a day after Santi hit.

“We are now conducting mopping operations and attending to individual concerns of customers which we hope to complete at the soonest possible time,” said Joe Zaldarriaga, Meralco external communications manager.

Felled trees and poles, damaged electrical equipment and debris that hit Meralco facilities led to outages that affected some 1.6 million Meralco customers in Metro Manila and nearby provinces early Saturday morning.

Bridges impassable

The San Isidro Bridge in Majayjay, Laguna, remained impassable due to landslide. The Grotto Bridge in Barangay San Miguel, also in Majayjay, was also closed.

In Batangas, a bridge in Calaca town, which connects the villages of Sinisian and Puting Bato, was likewise impassable.

In Quezon, the Lucban-Sampaloc-Mauban Road remained closed to traffic. With reports from Delfin T. Mallari Jr. Maricar Cinco and Marrah Erika Lesaba, Inquirer Southern Luzon; and Amy R. Remo in Manila