Chilly, Rainy Days Ahead
Expect more rains and continued chilly weather in the next few days.
The Mactan station of the state weather bureau yesterday recorded a temperature reading of 23°C – the coldest so far this year – and is expecting the mercury to further drop in the next few days as the northeast monsoon continues to affect the Visayas.
“There is a possibility that the weather will be colder than 23°C that we experienced today,” Alfredo Quiblat, officer-in-charge and chief meteorological officer of the Mactan weather station of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) told Cebu Daily News yesterday.
Yesterday’s low pressure area (LPA) also contributed to the cold weather as it continuously affects Cebu and parts of the Visayas with light to moderate rain. Quinlat said that the LPA’s radius has reached 500 kilometers “that is why the whole of Cebu continuously experience light to moderate rain”.
He said, however, that there is a slim chance that the LPA will develop into a tropical storm, but light to moderate rains will continue this week. Pagasa weather forecaster Glaiza Escullar said in an interview over ABS-CBN News Channel that the low-pressure area is not expected to develop into a storm because of the northeast monsoon.
As of 4 p.m. yesterday, Pagasa said the LPA was estimated in the vicinity of Surigao del Sur with the northeast monsoon affecting northern and Central Luzon.
The Visayas and Mindanao would experience cloudy skies with moderate to heavy rains and thunderstorms, which may trigger flashfloods and landslides, the state weather agency said in its 5 p.m. Sunday bulletin..
Cagayan Valley, Calabarzon and the Bicol region and the province of Aurora will have cloudy skies with light rains. Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon will be partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated light rains.
Moderate to strong winds blowing from the northeast will prevail over Luzon and the Visayas and coming from the northeast to north over Mindanao. Coastal waters throughout the archipelago will be moderate to rough.
Residents were advised to take all the necessary precautionary measures.
Grounded
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said yesterday’s rains and rough seas prompted some ship operators to voluntarily suspend their services.The M/V Beautiful Stars of Roble Shipping (Cebu-Hilongos), M/V Ocean Jet 9 (Cebu – Tagbilaran) , and other fastcraft services in Santander and south Cebu were also cancelled. PCG Central Visayas District commander William Melad told CDN that it was the operators’ decision to suspend the trips although there was no storm signal raised in their operating areas. “If the shipping companies and the ship captains think it is not safe for them to sail, they have the right to suspend (voyages) since (passenger safety) is their responsibility,” Melad said.
State of calamity
The town of San Francisco in Agusan del Sur has been placed under a state of calamity due to the LPA affecting the Visayas and Mindanao.
Aside from Agusan del Sur, other provinces in the Caraga region are also affected by heavy rains and flooding.
A total of 12 barangays are affected in the province, and as many as 720 people from Butuan City, have been evacuated to safer ground.
The alert level in Butuan City has reached second level and forced evacuation has been implemented in the city.
6 dead
Six people were killed and thousands fled to safer ground as landslides hit villages in Mindanao on Saturday and Sunday, police and local authorities said.
A seven-year-old girl was killed while three persons were reported missing as landslides hit anew several communities at the mining village of Mt. Diwata in Monkayo, Compostela Valley, early yesterday, police said.
Senior Supt. Camilo Cascolan, chief of police of Compostela Valley, said seven others were also hurt as portions of the mountain cascaded down, burying houses in the communities of Purok 2, 7 and 22 around 7 a.m. Continuous rains spawned by a low pressure area over Mindanao have been dumping on Compostela Valley and most of southern Mindanao since Saturday, and two landslides have hit the mining village several hours apart over the weekend, wounding a five-year-old boy.
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