Super Typhoon Chanthu set to batter Philippines, Taiwan

TAIPEI • A super typhoon that rapidly formed in just 48 hours is threatening both the Philippines and Taiwan with destructive winds and torrential rain over the coming days.

Chanthu was about 580km south-east of Taiwan's southernmost tip yesterday morning, packing gusts of up to 234km an hour, according to Taiwan's central weather bureau.

The Philippine state weather agency said the typhoon was expected to graze the north-eastern tip of the country later in the day.

The agency warned of "destructive" winds in Santa Ana town, where around 35,000 people live, and the eastern part of the remote Babuyan Islands.

Rough seas will throw up 2.5m to 10m waves, it added. The Cagayan governor has ordered government and private sector workers, except those in front-line services, to stay home and "fortify" their houses, said provincial information officer Rogelio Sending.

Most projections forecast the storm will continue to swing north-east and could hit Taiwan directly over the weekend. "It will be closest to Taiwan tomorrow and Sunday. (The public) should take precautions against strong winds and downpours," said Taiwanese forecaster Hsu Chung-yi.

The Hong Kong Observatory's projection has Chanthu reducing from a super to a severe typhoon tomorrow as it nears Taiwan's south-eastern coast.

Meanwhile, Vietnam put 500,000 soldiers on standby, readied evacuation plans and ordered vessels to stay in port on Thursday, the state media reported, as flood-prone provinces prepared for the arrival of Tropical Storm Conson in the coming days.

Conson, which will be the fifth storm to arrive in Vietnam this year, was gaining strength and could impact as many as 800,000 people in northern provinces and trigger landslides, the Tuoi Tre newspaper reported.

It is expected to make landfall early next week.

Conson killed one person in the Philippines and 17 people were missing, officials said on Thursday. It brought heavy rain and caused flooding in central regions, displacing thousands of people.

According to Vietnam's meteorology agency, Conson was interacting with Typhoon Chanthu and was evolving in a complicated manner.

Meteorologists have marvelled at how quickly Chanthu morphed into a powerful storm after it first emerged on Monday in between Guam and the Philippines.

"Chanthu went from a depression to a category 5-equivalent typhoon in 48 hours," Mr Sam Lillo, a researcher at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, wrote on Twitter.

Only five other storms, all this century, have done that, he added.

Over just two days, Chanthu's wind speeds went from 48kmh to 257kmh at their height.

"This week, Super Typhoon Chanthu provided another stark example of how quickly a storm can strengthen," Nasa wrote in an article about the storm on its Earth Observatory blog.

A super typhoon is known as a category 5 hurricane in the US. The earth tends to experience around five storms of that power a year.

Meteorologists say that while Chanthu is powerful, it is small in size and will be unpredictable. "Small tropical cyclones are capable of very rapid intensity changes, both strengthening and weakening," hurricane scientist Jeff Masters wrote on Yale Climate Connections.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS