Flash flood, slide warnings up in Mindanao

MANILA, Philippines—The state weather bureau on Saturday warned of flash floods and landslides in a wide area in Mindanao due to heavy rains and thunderstorms spawned by a low-pressure area east of Davao City.

The low pressure area was embedded in the Intertropical Convergence Zone  or ITCZ, an area where trade winds from the northern and southern hemispheres converge, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said.

As of Saturday morning, the weather disturbance was located some 345 kilometers east of Davao City.

At the same time, a Pagasa advisory said, the southwest monsoon, or “hanging habagat,” continued to affect the western sections of Luzon and the Visayas.

Due to the low pressure area, the regions of Caraga, Davao and Soccsksargen (South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos City) will experience cloudy skies with moderate to occasionally heavy rain showers and thunderstorms.

Such heavy downpours may trigger flash floods and landslides, Pagasa warned.

“Ilocos Region, Visayas, the rest of Mindanao and the provinces of Zambales, Bataan, Cavite, Batangas, Mindoro and Palawan will be cloudy with light to moderate rain showers and thunderstorms,” it added.

Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rain showers or thunderstorms, Pagasa said.

Moderate to strong winds blowing from the southwest to southeast will prevail over the western section of Luzon and its coastal waters will be moderate to rough, the weather bureau said.

Light to moderate winds coming from the southeast will prevail over the rest of Luzon, and winds coming from the northeast to northwest will prevail over Visayas and Mindanao with slight to moderate seas, it said.