Weather: ‘Kabayan’ moves west-northwest; floods, landslides threaten west Luzon

Flash floods and landslides threaten western Luzon as Typhoon Kabayan (Muifa) moved west-northwest Tuesday afternoon, state weather forecasters said. The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said Kabayan was about 1,130 km east-northeast of Basco, Batanes as of 2 p.m. It said Kabayan had maximum sustained winds of 165 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 200 kph and is forecast to move west-northwest at 11 kph. On the other hand, PAGASA continued to track a low-pressure area (LPA) 130 km west of Sinait, Ilocos Sur. "The Western section of Luzon will experience monsoon rains which may trigger flashfloods and landslides. Western Visayas and the rest of Luzon will have mostly cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms," PAGASA said in its 5 p.m. bulletin. It said the rest of the country will be partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms. Moderate to strong winds blowing from the southwest will prevail over Luzon and Visayas and coming from the South to Southwest over the rest of the country. Coastal waters throughout the archipelago will be moderate to rough, it added. Meanwhile, PAGASA said strong to gale-force winds are expected to affect the Northern seaboard of Northern Luzon the Eastern seaboards of Visayas. "Fishing boats and other small seacrafts are advised not to venture out into the sea while larger sea vessels are alerted against big waves," it said. - KBK, GMA News