LPA-enhanced monsoon rains expected until Friday —PAGASA

Rains are expected across the country until Friday due to the Southwest Monsoon enhanced by a low-pressure area (LPA), state weather bureau PAGASA said on Thursday.

In an 11 a.m. advisory, PAGASA said the following areas will experience monsoon rains:

• Batanes
• eastern Cagayan including Babuyan Island
• eastern Isabela
• Aurora
• Pangasinan
• Zambales
• Bataan
• Mindoro Provinces
• Romblon
• Palawan
• Antique
• Zamboanga Peninsula
• Basilan
• Sulu
• Tawi-tawi

Meanwhile, scattered light to moderate rains with at times heavy rain showers   are expected over Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon and Western Visayas.

“Flooding and rain-induced landslide may occur during heavy or prolonged rainfall especially in areas that are highly or very highly susceptible to these hazards,” PAGASA warned.

PAGASA advised local disaster risk reduction and management offices to monitor related advisories about the weather condition and take appropriate measures.

A Gale Warning is in effect over the seaboards of Batanes and Babuyan Islands. Sea travel is risky over these areas due to rough seas (2.5-3.1 meters), PAGASA said.

“Those with small sea crafts are advised not the venture into northern and western seaboards of Luzon and the western seaboards of Visayas due to moderate to rough seas  (1.2-2.5 m),” it added.

At 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, the LPA was located at  225 kilometers west-northwest of Iba, Zambales or  250 km west of Dagupan City, Pangasinan.

There is a low possibility that the LPA will intensify into a Tropical Depression in the next  24 hours, according to PAGASA.

“It is forecast to continue moving west-northwestward and may exit the Philippine Area of Responsibility  in the next 24 hours,” PAGASA added. —LBG, GMA News