Thousands evacuated as typhoon bears down on Philippines

Members of the Philippine Coast Guard evacuate residents ahead of the landfall of Typhoon Kalmaegi. (Philippine Coast Guard-Eastern Samar Station/AFP pic)

MANILA: More than 150,000 people took shelter in coastal provinces of the Philippines on Monday as powerful Typhoon Kalmaegi neared landfall in a region hit by some of the country’s deadliest storms.

The typhoon is on a collision course with the Visayas island chain, bringing with it winds of 140 kilometres per hour and gusts of up to 170 kph, according to the national weather service.

In Dinagat Islands province, where Kalmaegi is expected to first make shore, 34-year-old Miriam Vargas sat in the darkness with her two children after the storm knocked out their electricity.

“As of now, there is strong rain and winds starting. We’re sitting on the stairs and praying while trying to gauge the typhoon’s strength,” the single mother told AFP.

“The wind is whistling and there are sounds of things falling. The electricity went out about an hour ago, and we cannot see anything.”

Roel Montesa, a disaster official on Leyte Island, said earlier that evacuations were “ongoing in Palo and Tanauan”, naming two of the towns hardest hit by storm surges in 2013, when Super Typhoon Haiyan killed more than 6,000 people there.

Thousands of residents have also been evacuated since Sunday on neighbouring Samar island, where 3m surges are predicted, according to civil defence official Randy Nicart.

“Some local governments are resorting to forced evacuations,” he said.

More storms expected

As of 8pm, “close to 156,000 individuals” had been preemptively evacuated, Office of Civil Defence deputy administrator Rafaelito Alejandro told a press briefing, adding landfall was expected some time after midnight.

The Philippines is hit by an average of 20 storms and typhoons each year, routinely striking disaster-prone areas where millions live in poverty.

With Kalmaegi, the archipelago country has already reached that average, state weather service specialist Charmaine Varilla told AFP, adding that at least “three to five more” storms could be expected by December’s end.

Just south of Leyte, in Dinagat Islands province, governor Nilo Demerey said 10,000 to 15,000 people had been pre-emptively moved to safer areas.

Disaster official Joy Conales said residents of Dinagat’s Loreto town were told to evacuate to higher ground.

The town has a one-storey-tall dike intended to protect its centre from big waves.

Scientists warn that storms are becoming more powerful due to human-driven climate change.

Varilla said that higher numbers of cyclones typically accompany La Nina, a naturally occurring climate pattern that cools surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean.

The Philippines was hit by two major storms in September, including Super Typhoon Ragasa, which toppled trees and tore the roofs off buildings, and killed 14 people in neighbouring Taiwan.