MANILA, Philippines — Tropical Depression Verbena lashed northeastern Mindanao as it made its first landfall over Bayabas in Surigao del Sur province around 1:30 p.m. Monday in the southern part of the country. The small but rain-heavy system is forecast to re-intensify after crossing Mindanao and the Visayas, bringing flash floods and landslides to already sodden communities, Nov. 24, 2025.
Tropical Depression Verbena to intensify after Mindanao crossing.
Tropical Depression Verbena maintained its strength as it was spotted near Jabonga, Agusan del Norte, with maximum sustained winds of 45 kilometers per hour and gusts reaching upwards of 75 kph while moving west-northwest at around 30 kph, the state weather bureau said in its 5 p.m. bulletin. Forecasters say the system is expected to cross the Caraga Region by Monday evening, pick up speed across the Visayas and northern Palawan, then emerge over the West Philippine Sea on Wednesday, where it could intensify into a tropical storm and later into a severe tropical storm north of the Kalayaan Islands.
Signal No. 1 is raised in at least 23 areas in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao — including portions of Eastern Visayas, Cebu, the Negros provinces, Palawan, and Surigao — indicating a warning for moderate winds (30 to 60 kph) expected in the next 36 hours, which may cause some damage to exposed crops or structures, GMA News Online reported. PAGASA warned that Verbena “may intensify slightly before making landfall” and “heavy rainfall and strong winds may also be experienced in areas under the landfall zone”, noting too that the track of the storm could still adjust within its forecast cone.
Earlier in the day, a Philippine news report by Gulf News quoted local meteorologists as saying that Tropical Depression Verbena, which was east of Mindanao at the time, was expected to intensify over the next 36 hours and become a tropical storm before moving into Caraga. That scenario is generally consistent with PAGASA’s forecast that Verbena could become a tropical storm either close to northern Palawan or shortly after entering the West Philippine Sea.
Villages prepare as Tropical Depression Verbena soaks Visayas and Mindanao.
In flood-battered Cebu and Negros — the same areas hit by Typhoon Tino (Kalmaegi) earlier this month — local government units have been conducting preemptive evacuations, house-to-house warnings, and class suspensions as widespread rains brought on by Tropical Depression Verbena begin to intensify. In Talisay City, Liloan, Balamban, La Castellana , Silago, and other severely affected areas, barangays are once again calling on residents living near rivers, slopes, and coastlines to relocate to evacuation centers before water levels escalate anew,” a GMA Regional TV report said.
In Butuan City, at least 115 families — or some 440 people — have already been evacuated to safety centers after floodwaters poured into low-lying barangays, local disaster officials said, adding that more residents could be taken to higher ground if rains continued through the night.
Storm-wracked Philippines braces for new threat of Tropical Depression Verbena
Tropical Depression Verbena is the latest in a series of cyclones to hit the Philippines in 2025, a year that has already produced lethal storms such as Typhoon Kalmaegi (Tino) and Severe Tropical Storm Fengshen (Ramil). Kalmaegi brought devastating flooding to Cebu and nearby provinces in early November, claiming over 100 lives and displacing hundreds of thousands, as the government declared a nationwide emergency, according to a state-of-emergency report following the Typhoon. In October, Fengshen killed eight people and forced more than 27,000 residents from their homes when it hit southeastern Luzon, underscoring how the floods wrought by back-to-back storms are compounding dangers for vulnerable communities — a phenomenon noted in previous analyses of typhoon Fengshen and seasonal reports on the 2025 Pacific typhoon season.
PAGASA and local disaster risk reduction and management councils warned residents along the forecast path of Tropical Depression Verbena to pay attention to their respective local advisories, avoid the following areas that are at risk for flooding due to rain-induced landslides, and continue checking for updates: With soils still waterlogged from recent storms and gale warnings flying for many coastlines, even a relatively weak tropical depression could lead to life-threatening conditions in some parts of the country over coming days.
