'Domeng' may affect Eastern Visayas - PAGASA

MANILA, Philippines - Tropical Storm "Domeng" continues to move toward the country and may hit the areas ravaged by Super Typhoon "Yolanda," the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said Monday.

At 4 a.m. today, the state weather bureau spotted Domeng at 880 kilometers east of Davao City bearing maximum winds of 65 kilometers per hour and gustiness of up to 80 kilometers per hour.

PAGASA weather forecaster Fernando Cada said the tropical storm will not directly affect the country yet.

"But beginning on Tuesday, possible effects of this tropical storm will be over Eastern Visayas or Eastern Mindanao," Cada said in a phone-patch interview on ANC's Headstart.

Cada said Domeng is projected to make landfall over the provinces of Surigao or over the southern part of Eastern Visayas around Wednesday evening or early Thursday morning.

The tropical storm has small chances of intensifying further, Cada said, although it could still become a typhoon when it crosses southern Mindanao going to the Sulu Sea.

"From our forecast model... the possibility of intensification is very low within the next 24 hours because it is already reaching the landmass of the eastern part of the country," Cada said.

He explained that Domeng will possibly have moderate to heavy rainfall (5 to 15 millimeters per hour) though not as strong as the rains brought by Yolanda, which devastated Eastern Visayas last November and killed over 6,000 people.

Cada noted that tropical cyclones do enter the country during the month of April but the strongest ones are just tropical storms.

"Hindi naman po ganoon kalakas ang bagyo kapag ganitong dry season or summer months," he added.

The state meteorologist said Domeng is moving west northwest at 15 kilometers per hour and may leave the Philippine Area of Responsibility by Friday or Saturday.

According to the agency's weather forecast, Mindanao and the regions of Eastern Visayas and Cagayan Valley will have cloudy skies with scattered light rainshowers and isolated thunderstorms.

Metro Manila and the rest of the country will be partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms mostly in the afternoon or evening.

Cada said the scattered rainshowers over Luzon are due to the tail-end of a cold front while light rains over Mindanao and Visayas are indirect effects of the approaching storm.

PAGASA said moderate to strong winds blowing from the northeast will prevail over the northern and eastern section of the country and the coastal waters along these area will be moderate to rough.

Elsewhere, winds will be light to moderate coming from the northeast to east with slight to moderate seas.