MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A powerful typhoon ripped through the northern Philippines on Sunday, destroying homes and causing high waves, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to seek emergency shelters in the sixth major storm to hit the country in less than a month. .
Typhoon Manyi hit the eastern province of Catanduanes on Saturday night with winds of up to 195 kph (125 mph) and gusts of up to 240 kph (149 mph). The country’s meteorological agency warned of “catastrophic and potentially life-threatening conditions” in states along its path.
There were no immediate reports of casualties from the typhoon, which was expected to sweep northwest across northern Luzon, the archipelago’s most populous region, on Sunday. The metropolitan area of Metro Manila is likely to be spared a direct hit, but along with remote areas, it has been placed under a storm watch and warned of dangerous coastal storm surges.
“There wasn’t much rain, but the wind was very strong and there was an eerie howling sound,” Catanduanes city disaster prevention official Roberto Monterolla told The Associated Press by phone. “Here along the main road, the storm surge reached over 7 meters (23 feet) near the beach huts. It looked really scary.”
The entire province of Catanduanes is without power after the typhoon toppled trees and utility poles, and disaster response teams are assessing how many more homes were damaged in addition to those damaged in previous storms. he said.
“Apart from food, we need tin roofs and other construction materials. Villagers here say they are still recovering from previous storms and have been stranded again by this typhoon,” Monterola said. spoke. People were taking shelter in evacuation centers.
Catanduanes authorities were so concerned about the approaching typhoon that they threatened to arrest vulnerable villagers if they did not comply with orders to evacuate to a safer location. More than 750,000 people were evacuated to emergency shelters such as churches and shopping malls after Manyi and the previous two storms that hit mainly the northern Philippines, said Civil Defense Assistant Secretary Cesar Idio and other state officials. did.
A series of rare storms and typhoons that hit Luzon in just three weeks have killed more than 160 people, affected 9 million people and caused severe damage to residential communities, infrastructure and agricultural land. , the Philippines may have to import. Eat more rice, which is the staple food of most Filipinos. As Manyi approaches, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. called for an emergency meeting to ask cabinet members and state officials to prepare for the “worst-case scenario.”
At least 26 domestic and two international airports have been temporarily closed, and interisland ferry and cargo operations have been halted due to rough seas, leaving thousands of passengers and commuters stranded, according to the Philippine Civil Aviation Authority and Coast Guard. Ta.
Manila’s treaty ally, the United States, along with Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei, provided cargo planes and other storm support to shore up the government’s busy disaster response agency. Last month, the first major storm, Trami, dumped one to two months’ worth of rain on several towns in just 24 hours, killing scores of people.
The Philippines is hit by about 20 typhoons and storms every year. Frequent earthquakes and more than a dozen active volcanoes make it one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world.
