Residents in Northern and Central Luzon were alerted against possible flashfloods and landslides that might be triggered with the spotting of low pressure area (LPA) near Luzon, the weather bureau said Thursday.

In its weather bulletin, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) monitored the LPA in the Philippine Sea at about 440 kilometers east of Northern Luzon as of 2 a.m. Thursday that will enhance the surge of Southwest monsoon.

PAGASA said that the intensified activities of the Hanging Habagat (Monsoon Wind) will bring cloudy
skies with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms all over Luzon that will become widespread over the eastern section of Northern and Central Luzon.

The weather bureau warned that landslides may occur in Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Abra, La Union, Benguet, and Pangasinan while flashflood incidents may happen in Zambales, Tarlac, Pampanga, and Bulacan.

The weather bureau added that Visayas and Mindanao will experience mostly cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms.

PAGASA added that light to moderate winds blowing from the southwest and northwest will prevail over Northern and Central Luzon while southwestern and southern winds will blow over the rest of the country.

Without issuing a gale warning, PAGASA assured that coastal waters throughout the archipelago will be slight to moderate except during thunderstorms.

Meanwhile, after the province of Negros Occidental was put under a state of calamity, the provincial government is facing another problem as more earth cracks have been discovered along certain portions of the province that will probably cause more landslides in the area.

Since the first week of August, more than 11,000 families had already been evacuated in three sitios of Barangay Quintin Remo in the Municipality of Moises Padilla due to the land cracks that were recently discovered along the 200-hectare expansion danger zone amid the bad weather last week.

The Provincial Disaster Office of Negros Occidental feared the occurrence of massive landslides since the land in the said area had already softened in the past few days due to intense rain.

In the report released by the provincial disaster management unit, several giant cracks in the ground had already branched out into several “zig-zagging” fissures. This has some minor landslides in the area, although no casualties were reported.

The provincial disaster management unit composed of some representatives from the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHILVOCS) stressed that the ground moves and soil collapses every 15 minutes, 12-feet deep to be exact due to the cracks.

The team once again conducted an inspection Thursday after receiving reports from the residents near the area that more cracks had appeared.