PAGASA: Storm to hit east Mindanao Friday or Saturday

At least one of the two low-pressure areas (LPAs) east of Mindanao is likely to intensify into a tropical cyclone Friday or Saturday, state weather forecasters said Thursday. The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said this will likely mean a rainy weekend particularly in East and South Mindanao. "Itong isang [low-pressure area] maaring magiging tropical depression bukas o Sabado," PAGASA forecaster Ben Oris said in an interview on dzBB radio. He said the resulting tropical depression will be codenamed "Egay." Philippine-based weather site Typhoon2000 said one of the two LPAs has a 50-percent chance of becoming a cyclone in the next 24 hours, and that the formation of tropical cyclones along the East Philippine Sea may be possible between June 17 to 20 and June 22 to 25. In the meantime, Oris said Egay will likely bring rains to eastern and southern Mindanao during the weekend as both LPAs are presently near it. Flash floods, landslides On the other hand, PAGASA warned of possible flash floods and landslides on eastern and southern Mindanao due to rains from the two LPAs. PAGASA's 5 a.m. bulletin said that as of 2 a.m., one of the two LPAs was estimated at 150 km east of Mindanao, while the other was estimated at 610 km east of Mindanao. "Visayas and Mindanao including Palawan will experience mostly cloudy skies with scattered rain showers and thunderstorms becoming cloudy with widespread rains over Eastern and Southern Mindanao which may trigger flashfloods and landslides," it said. The rest of Luzon will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rain showers or thunderstorms mostly in the afternoon or evening. — LBG, GMA News