A major typhoon has hit the Philippines’ main island, Luzon, for the second time, with forecasters warning of a “life-threatening storm surge”, heavy rains and strong winds.
Man-Yi, known locally as Pepito, first touched down on Cantanduanes island in the country’s east at 21:40 local time (13:40 GMT) on Saturday, with maximum sustained winds of 195 km/h (121 mph), the government forecast. said.
More than a million people have been ordered to evacuate since the warnings were issued.
Man-Yi is the sixth typhoon to hit the Philippines in less than a month, as at least 160 people are known to have died in the past five typhoons.
This huge typhoon has already passed through Cantanduanes, where it uprooted trees, damaged some buildings and knocked down power lines.
The typhoon did not lose its strength as it occurred in the province of Aurora and began to cross the island of Luzon, the Philippines News Agency reported, with some gusts reaching 305 km/h (189 mph).
Another widespread heavy rain from Man-Yi is forecast in the northern parts of the main island. At least 200mm (7.8 inches) is expected to fall on Monday, leading to potentially “life-threatening” floods and catastrophic mudslides, putting millions at risk of cyclones, the government said.
The country’s capital Manila, home to about 15 million people, is not predicted to be in the path of this typhoon.
Earlier on Sunday, a number of flights were canceled due to the incoming typhoon, according to local broadcaster ABS-CBN News.
More than 500,000 people obeyed evacuation orders ahead of the storm, defense officials said. Its head, Ariel Nepomuceno, urged everyone living in the proposed path of the storm to obey these orders.
“It is a big danger now for those who are in areas that often collapse because the soil is full of typhoons one after the other,” said Mr. Nepomuceno.
Glenda Llamas was among those who had to leave their homes.
“We are still very afraid of the typhoon, as it may be strong and the water may rise,” he told AFP reporters from a shelter in eastern Luzon in Albay province on Saturday.
“If we didn’t get out, we wouldn’t be able to get out later, we don’t have anyone else in the house but us.”
“We have a lot of fear because of the previous disasters that happened here such as floods, strong winds and other disasters,” said Melchor Bilay, who was transferred to a school in the south, in Sorsogon province.
EPAAlthough typhoons are rare in the Philippines, forecasters say it is unusual to see so many tropical storms in the Pacific at one time during the month of November.
Tropical Storm Trami dumped a month’s worth of rain on large parts of the northern Philippines in late October, leaving dozens dead.
This was followed by Typhoon Kong-rey, in which at least three people died. It happened again a major typhoon that hit Taiwan directly in about 30 years.
Typhoon Yinxing hit northern Luzon earlier this month, bringing about 250mm (10in) of rain to some areas.
Since then there have been Typhoon Toraji and, earlier this week, Typhoon Usagi, which brought storm surges of three meters and more than 200mm (8 inches) of rain.
Typhoons in the Philippines have become more frequent and intense, a problem exacerbated by climate change.
The United Nations’ climate change agency, IPCC, said that although the number of tropical cyclones occurring around the world is unlikely to increase as a result of the warning planet, it is “very likely” that they will have higher levels of rainfall and reach higher levels. wind speed.
This means that a large part will reach the strongest stages.
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