Weather: LPA nears Samar, PAGASA says

A potential cyclone moved closer to Eastern Visayas Sunday afternoon even as flash floods and landslides threatened parts of Visayas and Mindanao, state weather forecasters said. The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said the low-pressure area was estimated at 510 km east of Borongan, Eastern Samar as of 2 p.m. In its 5 p.m. bulletin, PAGASA said the LPA was embedded along the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) affecting Southern Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. "The Bicol Region, Visayas and Mindanao will experience cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms becoming widespread over Visayas and Northeastern Mindanao which may trigger flashfloods and landslides," it said. The rest of Southern Luzon will have mostly cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms while the rest of Luzon will be partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms, it added. Light to moderate winds blowing from the northeast to east will prevail over Northern and Central Luzon and coming from the southwest to west over the rest of the country. Coastal waters throughout the archipelago will be slight to moderate, PAGASA added. Meanwhile, local weather site Typhoon2000 said a tropical cyclone formation along the Philippine Sea is possible in the next 24 to 48 hours. Earlier, PAGASA forecaster Gener Quitlong said the LPA has a good chance of becoming a cyclone. If it does, it will be locally codenamed "Mina." — KBK, GMA News