MANILA, Philippines—A low-pressure area over Masbate is dumping rains over a large part of Luzon, including Metro Manila and the Visayas, prompting the weather office to advise residents to watch out for possible landslides and flash floods.
As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, the low-pressure area was spotted 230 kilometers west of Puerto Princesa in Palawan.
The low-pressure area, a weaker form of a tropical storm, is bringing rains over the metropolis, parts of Central Luzon, Southern Luzon and the Visayas, said Nathaniel Cruz, deputy administrator for operations of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa).
But Cruz assured the public that the rains would not be as heavy as those brought by Tropical Storm “Ondoy” (international codename: Ketsana) on Sept. 26.
“Northern Luzon won’t be affected. But the Bicol Region and Southern Luzon, including Metro Manila, and the Visayas will have cloudy weather with rain showers and thunderstorms,” Cruz said.
He warned residents living in low-lying areas and those near mountain slopes against flash floods and landslides.
At least 10 domestic flights to and from four provinces were canceled Wednesday at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) due to bad weather.
In Albay province, classes in the primary and secondary levels were suspended Wednesday.
The suspension was announced by Gov. Joey Salceda as part of the province’s preventive measure, said Abundio Nuñez of the Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office (Apsemo).
Nuñez said the governor also declared a “code blue” or “heightened alert” in the landslide-prone town of Manito, where a Boys Scouts of the Philippines Jamboree, organized by the Albay Council, was being held.
Code blue means people should stay put in their houses. The boy scouts were advised not to travel back home to Legazpi and their respective places of origin.
Salceda’s advisory early Wednesday morning said “the organizers are hereby advised to limit activities on the camp site and control the movement of the pupils.”
“The Municipal Health Office (MHO) of Manito is placed under ‘code blue’ and together with the Provincial Health Office (PHO) are hereby instructed to provide teams on site with standby emergency vehicles,” the governor said.
He also instructed the Department of Education to make school buildings open as temporary safe shelters.
Some roads impassable
Some roads were impassable, particularly in front of the municipal hall of Camalig, due to rampaging knee-deep water carrying boulders.
The flood in Camalig has isolated the towns of the third district of Albay, preventing students, workers and travelers going to and from Legazpi City.
The Apasemo was also monitoring related flash floods in Maipon and Masarawag villages in Guinobatan town and the perennially flooded portion of Barangay Padang in Legazpi City, which also isolated the city of Tabaco and the rest of the first district of Albay.
Apsemo director Cedric Daep said the different rain gauges installed around Albay had recorded an average of 7.2 millimeters of rainfall during a 12-hour monitoring period. The peak was recorded at 68 mm from 2 a.m. to 9 a.m. Wednesday.
“There were even higher recorded rains in other parts of the province and that averaged 7.2 mm on our readings but we still have to compare it with the official findings of Pagasa,” Daep said.
The provincial engineering office fielded heavy equipment to allow light vehicles to pass through the Camalig area.
Motorcycles and small cars were able to traverse the flooded area at around 10:30 a.m. However, rains continued to pound the province even up to the late afternoon.
Outlook
In its weather bulletin, Pagasa said the low-pressure area was expected to bring occasional to frequent rains over Southern Luzon and the Visayas.
Pagasa said central and southern Luzon and the Visayas would experience cloudy skies with scattered rain showers and thunderstorms. These can become frequent rains over the Southern Tagalog provinces.
The rest of the country is expected to have mostly cloudy weather with rain showers and thunderstorms.
Puerto Princesa, Iloilo and Metro Cebu can expect frequent rains until Thursday, with conditions improving slightly into the weekend.
Legazpi City and Tacloban City can see cloudy skies with rain showers until Thursday, with conditions improving by Saturday.
Metro Manila, Tuguegarao, Laoag, Baguio, Olongapo, Tagaytay, Cagayan de Oro, Metro Davao and Zamboanga City can expect mostly cloudy weather with spots of rain showers until the weekend.
Canceled flights
The canceled flights were scheduled to go to and come from the airports in Tablas, Romblon; Busuanga, Palawan; Legazpi, Albay; and Naga, Camarines Sur, according to the Manila International Airport Authority.
First to be canceled were a Cebu Pacific flight, 5J-529, and a Philippine Airlines flight, PR-301, set to leave NAIA Terminal 3 for Busuanga, at 9:45 a.m. and 8:45 a.m. Consequently, their scheduled return flights, 5J-530 and PR-301, set to arrive in Manila at 12:05 p.m. and 11:15 a.m., were also canceled.
Two more Cebu Pacific flights, 5J-323 bound for Legazpi and 5J-519 bound for Naga, set to leave 12:05 p.m. and 1 p.m., were also canceled, together with their return flights, 5K-324 and 5J-520, set to arrive in Manila at 12:45 p.m. and 1 p.m.
Also canceled was a South East Asian Airlines flight, DG-313, which was to leave the old Manila Domestic Airport for Tablas at 11 a.m. The return flight, DG-314, which was supposed to arrive in Manila at 12:35 p.m., was also canceled. With a report from Jerome Aning
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