Super Typhoon Man-yi makes landfall in the Philippines as hundreds of thousands evacuated
Super Typhoon Man-yi has made landfall in the Philippines, the country’s forecaster says.
The powerful storm intensified into a super typhoon on Saturday, with the state forecaster warning of “significant to severe impacts” from the winds and “life-threatening” storm surges.
Up to 14-metre-high seas were expected around Catanduanes Island as Super Typhoon Man-yi approached, with landfall anticipated later on Saturday or early Sunday, bringing wind gusts of up to 240 kilometres per hour, the forecaster said.
Man-yi was on track to slam into the sparsely populated island province of Catanduanes as a super typhoon or “near peak intensity”, the weather service warned.
“Potentially catastrophic and life-threatening situation looms for north-eastern Bicol region as Super Typhoon ‘Pepito’ further intensifies,” the forecaster said in an update, using the local name for the storm and referring to the southern part of the main island of Luzon.
More than 7.6 million people were at risk from storm surges of one to three metres, the forecaster said.
Philippine authorities ordered all vessels back to shore and people in coastal communities to leave their homes on Saturday as the weather system neared the storm-weary archipelago nation, with forecasters expecting it to intensify before making landfall.
The typhoon will be the sixth major storm to pound the Philippines in the past month.
About 650,000 people have already been evacuated from their homes in regions vulnerable to landslides, flooding and storm surges, Interior Undersecretary Marlo Iringan said on Saturday, urging others to heed warnings to flee.
“If pre-emptive evacuation is required, let us do so and not wait for the hour of peril before evacuating or seeking help, because if we did that, we will be putting in danger not only our lives, but also those of our rescuers,” he said.
In Albay province, Legazpi City grocer Myrna Perea was sheltering with her fruit vendor husband and their three children in a school classroom with nine other families after they were ordered to leave their shanty.
Conditions were hot and cramped — the family spent Friday night sleeping together on a mat under the classroom’s single ceiling fan — but Ms Perea said it was better to be safe.
“I think our house will be wrecked when we get back because it’s made of light materials — just two gusts are required to knock it down,” Ms Perea said.
“That’s why we evacuated. Even if the house is destroyed, the important thing is we do not lose a family member.”
Scientists have warned climate change is increasing the intensity of storms, leading to heavier rains, flash floods and stronger gusts.
About 20 big storms and typhoons hit the South-East Asian nation or its surrounding waters each year, killing scores of people, but it is rare for multiple such weather events to take place in a small window.
Forced evacuations
Thousands of people in coastal areas in the east of the Philippines were ordered to evacuate. (AFP: Charism Sayat)
Evacuation centres were filling up on Catanduanes island in the typhoon-prone Bicol region, with the state weather forecaster warning on Saturday of “widespread incidents of severe flooding and landslides”.
More than 400 people were squeezed into the provincial government building in the capital Virac, with new arrivals being sent to a gymnasium, provincial disaster officer Roberto Monterola told AFP.
“The Rawis gym has a history of typhoon damage so people are afraid to go there,” Mr Monterola said.
“The upper walls are made of glass which could shatter if hit by a strong gust of wind and they could get injured.”
Mr Monterola said he had dispatched soldiers to force about 100 households in two coastal villages near Virac to move inland due to fears storm surges could swamp their homes.
“Regardless of the exact landfall point, heavy rainfall, severe winds, and storm surges may occur in areas outside the predicted landfall zone,” the forecaster said.
The mayor of Naga city in Camarines Sur province imposed a curfew from midday on Saturday in a bid to force residents indoors.
In Northern Samar province, disaster officer Rei Josiah Echano lamented that damage caused by typhoons was the root cause of poverty in the region.
“Whenever there’s a typhoon like this, it brings us back to the medieval era, we go (back) to square one,” Mr Echano said as the province prepared for the onslaught of Man-yi.
All vessels — from fishing boats to oil tankers — have been ordered to stay in port or return to shore.
Nearly 4,000 people were stranded after the coast guard shut 55 ports.
The volcanology agency also warned heavy rain dumped by Man-yi could trigger flows of volcanic sediment, or lahars, from three volcanoes, including Taal, south of Manila.
Man-yi will hit the Philippines late in the typhoon season: most develop between July and October.
Earlier this month, four storms were clustered simultaneously in the Pacific basin, which the Japan Meteorological Agency told AFP on Saturday was the first time such an occurrence had been observed in November since its records began in 1951.
AFP
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