Nowhere to run: A file photo showing residents carrying their belongings as the river swells due to Typhoon Toraji in Ilagan City. — AP
THE nation issued fresh weather warnings as the fifth major storm in three weeks bore down on the archipelago, days after thousands were evacuated ahead of Typhoon Toraji.
Now a weakened tropical storm, Toraji blew out to sea overnight after causing relatively limited damage and no reported deaths.
But Tropical Storm Usagi is now just two days away from the coast of Luzon, the archipelago nation’s largest and most populous island, and gaining strength, the national weather agency said.
The government said it had evacuated more than 32,000 people from vulnerable areas in the northern Philippines ahead of Toraji’s Monday landfall, weeks after Severe Tropical Storm Trami, Typhoon Yinxing and Super Typhoon Kong-rey killed a combined 159 people.
Most of that tally came during Trami, which unleashed torrential rains that triggered deadly flash floods and landslides.
The government did not report substantial flooding by Toraji and has so far not called for evacuations ahead of Usagi’s arrival.
“Areas in northern Luzon are at risk of heavy rainfall, severe wind, and, possibly, storm surge inundation from (Usagi) which may cause considerable impacts,” the weather service said in a fresh bulletin, using a term for giant coastal waves.
Usagi has strengthened to 85kph and could start to affect the region later in the night and reach typhoon category by this morning, a day ahead of landfall, it added.
While the government reported no casualties from Toraji, it said around 15,000 people were still sheltering at mainly government-run evacuation centres.
After Usagi, the weather service said Tropical Storm Man-yi, currently near the Northern Mariana Islands, may also threaten the Philippines next week.
About 20 big storms and typhoons hit the archipelago nation or its surrounding waters each year, killing scores of people.
A recent study showed that storms in the Asia-Pacific region are increasingly forming closer to coastlines, intensifying more rapidly and lasting longer over land due to climate change. — AFP
