Typhoon Mangkhut hurtles closer, Philippines raises alert

TUGUEGARAO: The Philippines raised its storm alert on Friday and warned of major destruction, hours before Typhoon Mangkhut was due to make landfall with fierce winds and drenching rains.

Thousands have already fled their homes on the Philippines’ northern coastal tip ahead of the Saturday arrival of what forecasters have called the strongest typhoon yet this year.

Businesses and residents on Luzon island, which is home to millions, were boarding up windows and tying down roofs that could be sheared off by sustained winds of 205 km per hour.

By Friday evening, strong winds had already downed trees in Tuguegarao, a city in the north of Luzon, where almost all businesses had been shuttered and police were patrolling otherwise quiet streets.

The Philippines state weather service raised a “signal four” alert, the second-highest storm warning for winds of up to 220 km per hour, for the Cagayan and Isabela coastal provinces.

Both areas are squarely in the path of the massive storm, which is about 900 km wide, as it roars east across the Pacific.

“It is important for our countrymen to know that we have raised signal four,” forecaster Loriedin de la Cruz said during a televised safety briefing.

A signal four alert was issued for Typhoon Haiyan, which is the country’s deadliest on record. It left more than 7,350 people dead or missing across the central Philippines in November 2013.

“Among all the typhoons this year, this one (Mangkhut) is the strongest,” Japan Meteorological Agency forecaster Hiroshi Ishihara told AFP. “This is a violent typhoon. It has the strongest sustained wind (among the typhoons of this year),” he added.