i TV Pinoy

Source: Sophia Dedace, gmanews.tv

-- Barely after the Philippines had reeled from successive tropical cyclones in the recent weeks, the the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration on Sunday said it is monitoring a new weather disturbance off Mindanao.

While the state weather bureau said it is still early to say if the shallow low-pressure area (SLPA) will develop into a cyclone, Pagasa warned of flash floods and landslides in Visayas and Mindanao.

"Mindanao and Visayas will experience cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms becoming widespread rains over the eastern sections which may trigger flashfloods and landslides. Pagasa said in its 5 a.m. bulletin.

The rest of the country will be partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms.

Pagasa said the new SLPA was estimated at 180 kilometers east of northern Mindanao as of 2 a.m. Should the SLPA eventually intensify into a cyclone, it will be named "Urduja."

However, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) did not indicate any new threat to Philippine territory.

Successive storms, typhoons

The country suffered succeeding cyclones since September 26, when tropical storm Ondoy (Ketsana) dumped record rainfall and caused epic floods in Metro Manila, and portions of Central Luzon and the Calabarzon region.

After Ondoy came Typhoon Pepeng (Parma), which devastated Northern Luzon and the Cordillera provinces. “Quedan" (Melor) spared the country but influenced Pepeng to make landfall on Northern Luzon thrice.

Typhoon Rami (Lupit) slightly affected parts of Northern Luzon, but its erratic path veered away toward Japan, sparing the country from its wrath.

Before the All Saints’ Day weekend, typhoon Santi (Mirinae) left a trail of destruction in Bicol and Southern Luzon, which is still recovering from the massive flooding caused by Ondoy.