Tens of thousands of people in the east-central Philippines have been ordered to evacuate to safer grounds, with fishermen prohibited from venturing out to sea, as a typhoon approaches. Officials warned of torrential rains and potentially deadly storm surges of up to three metres (nearly 10 feet).
Typhoon Kalmaegi was last spotted approximately 235 kilometres (146 miles) east of Guiuan in Eastern Samar province. It carried sustained winds of up to 120 kilometres (74 miles) per hour and gusts of 150 kph (93 mph), and was forecast to slam into shore later on Monday.
The typhoon is expected to blow westward overnight and on Tuesday, battering central island provinces. This includes Cebu, still recovering from a 6.9-magnitude earthquake on 30 September that left at least 79 dead and displaced thousands after their homes collapsed or were severely damaged.
Kalmaegi, locally named Tino, was forecast to strengthen further over the Philippine Sea before making landfall in Guiuan town or nearby municipalities. Eastern Samar Governor RV Evardone confirmed mandatory evacuation orders were issued from Monday, with army troops, police, firefighters, and disaster-mitigation contingents mobilised to assist.
More than 70,000 people in the coastal towns of Guiuan, Mercedes and Salcedo were ordered to move to evacuation centers or concrete houses and buildings certified as sturdy enough to withstand the impact of the typhoon. The coastal areas were warned of tidal surges of up to 3 meters (nearly 10 feet) high, Evardone said.
Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful tropical cyclones on record, slammed ashore into Guiuan in November 2013 then raked across the central Philippines, leaving more than 7,300 people dead or missing, flattening entire villages and sweeping scores of ships inland. Haiyan demolished about a million houses and displaced more than 4 million people in one of the country’s poorest regions.
“Nobody’s complaining among the residents because of their experience with Yolanda. They know it’s better to be safe than sorry,” Evardone told The Associated Press, referring to Haiyan’s Philippine name. “They then saw bodies scattered everywhere on streets. Many lost everything.”
Thousands of villagers were also being evacuated from island provinces near Eastern Samar ,officials said, and disaster-response agencies, including the coast guard, have been put on alert.
The Philippines is battered by about 20 typhoons and storms each year. It is often hit by earthquakes and has more than a dozen active volcanoes, making it one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.
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