Evacuations in Philippines, Taiwan as super typhoon nears

AFP | Manila

Email : editor@newsofbahrain.com

The Philippines and Taiwan ordered evacuations yesterday ahead of possible flooding and landslides as Super Typhoon Ragasa approached, gaining strength on its way to an eventual collision with southern China.

The storm was undergoing "rapid intensification" and expected to make landfall on the sparsely populated Batanes or Babuyan islands by Tuesday afternoon, the Philippine weather agency said.

Maximum sustained winds were 185 kilometres per hour at the storm's center as of 11 am (0300 GMT), with gusts reaching up to 230 kph as it moved westward toward the archipelago nation, the weather service said. Local officials "must waste no time in moving families out of danger zones", interior department Secretary Jonvic Remulla said in a statement.

In Taiwan, authorities said nearly 300 people will be evacuated from Hualien County in the east, adding figures could change depending on the typhoon's movement.

"We estimate that a land typhoon warning will be issued tonight... and tomorrow morning at 6 am the typhoon will approach Taiwan’s offshore," the Central Weather Administration said.

Philippine weather specialist John Grender Almario told a Sunday press briefing that "severe flooding and landslides" were expected in northern areas of main island Luzon.