Flooding, landslides still possible despite Carina exit, warns Pagasa

Heavy rains brought by Typhoon Carina and the southwest monsoon caused heavy flooding Wednesday, July 24 —INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines — Flooding, landslides, and strong winds are still possible in different parts of Luzon despite Typhoon Carina leaving the PAR, the state weather bureau warned Wednesday night.

In its latest weather advisory, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) stated that a red or torrential heavy rainfall warning is still raised over Ilocos Sur, Benguet, La Union, and Pangasinan—indicating that evacuation is advised, as serious flooding is expected.

READ: Carina weakens; continues to enhance habagat – Pagasa

An orange heavy rainfall warning was also raised over Ilocos Norte, Tarlac, Zambales, Bataan, and Pampanga; while portions of Abra, Metro Manila, Rizal, and Bulacan were placed under a yellow heavy rainfall warning.

100 to 200 mm of rain

According to Pagasa, Zambales, La Union, Pangasinan, at Benguet can expect 100 to 200 millimeters (mm) of rain, while for Metro Manila and its nearby provinces, 50mm to 100mm of rain can be felt.

“For tomorrow, we can still expect heavy to intense rainfalls over Zambales, La Union, Pangasinan, at Benguet; while moderate to heavy rainfall can be felt over Metro Manila, Bulacan, Pampanga,  Cavite, Batanes, Babuyan Islands, the remaining parts of Ilocos Region, Abra, Bataan, and Occidental Mindoro,” weather specialist Rhea Torres said.

“We can also expect that the strong gusts of winds due to Carina will continue […] For the areas mentioned, especially those in low-lying areas, there is a high chance of floods due to strong rains, we advise residents in these areas to prepare and take extra [precautions],” she added.

The warnings from Pagasa came despite its latest bulletin indicating that Carina has weakened, and was reclassified as a typhoon-category cyclone as of 10:00 p.m., Wednesday, July 24.

Pagasa said that Carina now has maximum sustained winds of 175 kilometers per hour (km/h), and gustiness of up to 215 km/h. Its eye was last seen 335 kilometers north of Itbayat, Batanes, and was moving west at 15 km/h.

Expect strong rains

“For the next [few] days, due to the effect of the habagat or southwest monsoon, some parts of Luzon will still be affected by strong rains […] But if you can see our forecast, rains will persist over the weekend but lesser areas will be affected by the strong rains,” Torres said.

“By Friday rains would mostly be on the western section of northern Luzon, moderate to heavy rains will be experienced over Zambales, Bataan, or the western section of Central Luzon including Pangasinan,” she added.

Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal No. 2 remains hoisted over Batanes, while Signal No. 1 has been raised over these areas:

• Babuyan Islands
• the northern portion of mainland Cagayan (Claveria, Santa Praxedes, Sanchez-Mira, Pamplona, Abulug, Ballesteros, Aparri, Camalaniugan, Buguey, Santa Teresita, Santa Ana, Gonzaga)
• the northern portion of Ilocos Norte (Burgos, Bangui, Pagudpud, Dumalneg, Adams)