A powerful typhoon was lashing the northernmost islands of the Philippines, prompting officials to evacuate villagers, shut down schools and inter-island ferries and warn of “potentially very destructive” damage to coastal villages.
Typhoon Krathon was last tracked over the coastal waters of Balintang island off the provinces of Cagayan and Batanes with sustained winds of up to 175kph and gusts of up to 215kph, according to government forecasters.
The slow-moving Krathon was blowing westward and could strengthen into a super typhoon when it veers northeastward toward Taiwan today, they said.
Guilmar Cabejo, a police officer on the island of Sabtang in typhoon-prone Batanes, said the streets were deserted in the town of more than 1,800 people as the ferocious wind rattled roofs, walls and trees.
“There’s nobody outside, zero, because the wind is so strong,” Cabejo said yesterday.
The weather agency warned of “moderate to high risk of life-threatening storm surge” in the coastal villages of Batanes, the nearby Babuyan islands and Cagayan province and said fierce winds could rip off roofs, topple trees, damage farmlands and whip up high waves.
Hundreds of villagers were evacuated away from the coast and flood-prone communities in Cagayan province, where power outages were reported. Classes in all levels were suspended yesterday in several northern provinces as a precaution, officials said.
Sea voyages were also halted in northern towns and provinces being battered or threatened by the typhoon, locally called Julian, officials said. — AP
