Heavy rains to pour in Metro Manila, Luzon, Visayas

HEAVY rainfall is expected to ruin the supposedly fun Sunday for most residents of Luzon and Visayas.

In its 10 am advisory, state weather bureau Pagasa said the Low Pressure Area in Surigao has moved east of San Vicente, Northern Samar.

The LPA will bring moderate to heavy rains with at times “intense rains” over the Bicol and Eastern Visayas regions, and eastern corridor of Luzon.

Metro Manila, Calabarzon and Cordillera regions will also likely to experience to light to moderate rains with at times heavy rains today.

There is a low chance that the LPA will form a tropical depression within the next 48 hours. But Pagasa weather forecaster Grace Castañeda said it is still possible.

The climate history of the country of tropical cyclone occurrence for the month of February ranges from zero to one.

10 am weather advisory

As LPA inched further Northern Samar, moderate to heavy rains with, at times, intense rains will be experienced over:

Cagayan
Isabela
Aurora
Quezon
Bicol Region
Eastern Samar
Northern Samar
Samar

Light to moderate rains with, at times, heavy rains are also expected in

Metro Manila
rest of Cagayan Valley provinces
Cordillera region
Calabarzon
Nueva Ecija
Bulacan
Oriental Mindoro
Occidental Mindoro
Marinduque
Romblon
northern portion of Palawan
Aklan
Capiz
Antique
Iloilo
Guimaras

Red, orange rainfall alerts in Bicolandia

Around 8am Sunday, Pagasa issued an orange rainfall warning alert in Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte and Catanduanes.

Around 2am and 5am Sunday, the orange warning was also raised in Sorsogon and Albay.

Orange means heavy rains will dump in these Bicol areas for three hours. Flooding “is threatening in low lying areas and near river channels.”

For areas near the mountains or hills, landslides may also happen.

Around 8am, the orange warning in Sorsogon and Albay was downgraded to the yellow warning.

Though not as severe as the orange rainfall, the amount of rain is still heavy under a yellow alert and may still trigger flooding in low-lying areas, especially near river channels.

Light to moderate with occasional heavy rains also affected Masbate, which recently experienced a Magnitude 6 earthquake.

Mindanao

There will still be rain in Northern Mindanao and Caraga region.

Blame the LPA, which left Mindanao but want its presence known and felt.

The rains in other parts of Mindanao can be attributed to localized thunderstorms.

Malou Talosig-Bartolome

She spent almost a decade as diplomatic reporter for a daily newspaper of national circulation. She also took charge of the regional and international news operations as a senior editor of a major television network.