As 'Henry' exits, 'Inday' brewing off Visayas

MANILA, Philippines — As Typhoon "Henry" continues to move away from the country, the state weather bureau is monitoring a potential tropical cyclone spotted east of Visayas.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said in its latest weather bulletin that a low pressure area (LPA) outside the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) was located at 1,300 kilometers east of Visayas.

The Hawaii-based of Joint Typhoon Warning Center of the US Department of Defense also said in an advisory that there is a high chance for the development of the weather disturbance into a "significant tropical cyclone" within 24 hours.

If the LPA intensifies into a cyclone and enters the PAR, it will be locally named "Inday."

Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon "Henry" was located at 170 kilometers north of Basco, Batanes at 4 p.m.

The typhoon is packing maximum sustained winds of 130 kilometers per hour (kph) near the center and gusts of up to 160 kph.

Moving northwest at 24 kph, Henry is expected to be at 680 kilometers northwest of Basco, Batanes and outside PAR by tomorrow morning.

Public storm warning signal no. 2 is still hoisted over the Batanes Group of Islands while the Babuyan and Calayan Group of Islands remain under signal no. 1.

PAGASA said moderate to heavy rainfall has been estimated within the 500-kilometer diameter of the typhoon.

The agency said the Batanes Group of Islands will experience stormy weather while the islands of Babuyan and Calayan will have rains and gusty winds and the coastal waters along these areas will be rough to very rough.

Cagayan Valley, Ilocos Region, Cordillera Administrative Region and Central Luzon will be cloudy with moderate to occasionally heavy rainshowers and thunderstorms which may trigger flashfloods and landslides.

Metro Manila, the rest of Luzon and Western Visayas will experience monsoon rains while the rest of Visayas will have occasional rains.

Mindanao will be partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms.

Moderate to strong winds blowing from the southwest to south will prevail over the entire archipelago with moderate to rough seas.