A powerful typhoon blew closer to the northern Philippines on Tuesday, forcing thousands of evacuations and a halt to sea travel ahead of torrential rains and tidal surges up to 3m.
Super ”Typhoon Doksuri” was forecast to make landfall or pass very close to Babuyan Islands or northern Cagayan province on Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning, the weather bureau said.
It was packing maximum sustained winds of 185km per hour (kph) and gusts of up to 230 kph as it moved north-west at a speed of 20 kph, the bureau said.
The weather bureau raised the highest storm signal warning level of five over Babuyan Islands, where up to 20,000 people could be affected.
Other storm signal warnings were also raised in over 20 provinces, plus the capital of metropolitan Manila.
Dozens of domestic flights were cancelled due to Doksuri, while sea travel has been suspended in affected regions, leaving more than 11,000 people stranded in ports, according to the coast guard.
Science and Technology Secretary Renato Solidum urged people to prepare for the typhoon, which is locally named Egay.
“Things happen fast,” he said. We need to remind our people of the importance of readiness against storm surges, strong winds and also possible floods.”
The Philippine archipelago is hit by an average of 20 tropical cyclones every year.
The strongest typhoon to ever hit the Philippines was Super Typhoon Haiyan, which killed 6,300 people and displaced more than four million in November 2013.
