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ADDS proposal, number of residents evacuated

Thousands of people took shelter and ports were closed in the Philippines on Monday as the disaster-weary country was hit by its fourth typhoon in less than a month, officials said.

The national weather agency said Typhoon Toraji hit near the town of Dilasag, about 220 kilometers (140 miles) northeast of the capital Manila.

“We are affected by strong winds and heavy rain. Some trees have been falling and the electricity has been out since yesterday,” Merwina Pableo, civil defense chief of Dinalungan town near Dilasag, told AFP.

Rescue teams said about 7,000 people were moved from flood- and landslide-prone areas as well as coastal areas in Aurora and Isabela, the first two areas hit before Toraji moved into the mountainous interior of the main island Luzon.

The government ordered the evacuation of a total of 2,500 villages on Sunday, but the national disaster agency did not give the total number of evacuees as of Monday.

In the area where Dilasag approaches the coast, 31-year-old school teacher Glenn Balanag filmed the onslaught of 130-kilometer (80 mph) winds that violently shook the coconut trees around his rural home.

“Large trees are falling and we heard that the roofs of some houses have been damaged. The rain continues and a nearby river is rising,” he told AFP.

The national weather agency warned of high winds and “heavy to heavy” rainfall in excess of 200 millimeters (eight inches) in the north of the country, as well as a “moderate to high risk of storm surge” (giant waves up to three meters (10 feet) high on the northern coast.

Schools and government offices were closed in the areas expected to be most affected by the last typhoon.

About 700 passengers were stranded in ports along or near the typhoon’s path, the coast guard said Monday, and the weather service warned that “sea travel remains risky for ships of all types and tonnages.”

“All seafarers should remain in port or, if underway, seek shelter or safe harbor as soon as possible until winds and waves subside,” the statement said. The statement was included.

Aurora and Isabela officials said the main impact was downed trees and power poles blocking major roads.

“I don’t want to send people out for research yet. I don’t want them to get caught in strong winds,” said Constante Foronda, Isabela’s disaster response chief.

According to the statement made by the meteorologist, the typhoon is expected to reach the South China Sea late on Monday.

Aurora provincial disaster response chief Elson Egargue told AFP that Toraji left the province in the early afternoon, prompting crews to clear roads.

A tropical depression after Toraji could potentially hit the region as early as Thursday night, weather forecaster Veronica Torres told AFP.

He added that Tropical Storm Man-yi, currently located east of Guam, could also threaten the Philippines next week.

Toraji follows three hurricanes that killed 159 people in less than a month.

Typhoon Yinxing hit the country’s northern coast on Thursday, damaging homes and buildings.

In one incident, a 12-year-old girl was crushed to death.

Before that, Severe Tropical Storm Trami and Super Typhoon Kong-rey together caused 158 deaths, with most of that number attributed to Trami, the national disaster agency said.

About 20 major storms and typhoons hit the archipelagic country or its surrounding waters each year.

A recent study showed that due to climate change, storms in the Asia-Pacific region are increasingly forming closer to coastlines, intensifying faster and lasting longer over land.