LPA now a tropical depression; cyclone warnings up

The low pressure area (LPA) that PAGASA has been monitoring since earlier this week intensified into a tropical depression late Good Friday afternoon, April 14, and has been given the local name "Crising."

It is forecast to move through the Visayas over the weekend, making for a rainy Black Saturday and Easter Sunday across the central Philippines as well as in parts of Southern Luzon and Northern Mindanao.

As of 4 p.m. update on Good Friday, PAGASA posited Crising 555 km East of Maasin, Southern Leyte, with maximum sustained winds of 45 kph and gusts of up to 55 kph. It is forecast to move west-northwest at 22 kph.

PAGASA has raised Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal no. 1 over the following areas, which should brace for up to 60 kph winds within the next 36 hours:

• Northern Samar
• Eastern Samar
• Samar
• Northern Leyte

Meanwhile, initial estimates by the US' Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) as of 5 p.m. (Philippine Time) forecast Crising to make landfall in Samar on Black Saturday afternoon, April 15. The agency also expects it to pass over Mindoro and exit the Philippines by late Easter Sunday afternoon.

— GMA News