Monster typhoon barrels closer to Philippines, China
TYPHOON Mangkhut retained its ferocious strength, gained speed and shifted slightly toward more densely populated coastal provinces on Friday as it barrelled closer to the northeastern Philippines, where a massive evacuation was underway.
More than 5 million people are at risk from the storm, which the Hawaiibased Joint Typhoon Warning Center categorises as a super typhoon with powerful winds and gusts equivalent to a category 5 Atlantic hurricane.
The typhoon is likely to make landfall close to Isabela province, and then cut across the country’s northern breadbasket, Philippine state forecaster Chris Perez said. The change probably won’t markedly change its impact because of the typhoon’s massive size, he said.
With a huge raincloud band 900km wide, combined with monsoon rains, the typhoon could bring heavy to rain that could set off landslides and flash floods. Storm warnings have been raised in almost all the provinces including the capital, Manila, restricting sea and air travel.
Mangkhut was tracked after last night about 260km away in the Pacific with winds of 205km/h, forecasters said.
They said the fast-moving typhoon has gained speed as it moves northwestward. Even if it weakens slightly after slamming ashore, its winds will remain very destructive, government forecaster Rene Paciente said.
In Cagayan’s capital city of Tuguegarao, residents braced for the typhoon’s fury. a super typhoon wrought heavy damage in Cagayan in 2016.
More than 15 300 people had been evacuated in northern provinces by yesterday afternoon, the Office of Civil Defense said.
The typhoon is approaching at the start of the rice and corn harvesting season in Cagayan and farmers were scrambling to save what they could of their crops, Cagayan Governor Manuel Mamba said. The threat to agriculture comes as the Philippines tries to cope with rice shortages.
The Hong Kong Observatory predicts Mangkhut will plow into the Chinese mainland on Monday south of Hong Kong and north of the island province of Hainan.