Evacuations in Philippines, Taiwan as super typhoon nears

MANILA - The Philippines and Taiwan ordered evacuations on Sept 21 ahead of possible flooding and landslides as Super Typhoon Ragasa approached, gaining strength on its way to an eventual collision with southern China.

The storm was undergoing “rapid intensification” and expected to make landfall on the sparsely populated Batanes or Babuyan islands by the afternoon of Sept 23, the Philippine weather agency said.

Maximum sustained winds were 185kmh at the storm’s centre as at 11am local time (11am Singapore time), with gusts reaching up to 230kmh as it

moved westward

towards the archipelago nation, the weather service said.

Local officials “must waste no time in moving families out of danger zones”, Interior Department Secretary Jonvic Remulla said in a statement.

In Taiwan, the authorities said nearly 300 people will be evacuated from Hualien County in the east, adding that figures could change depending on the typhoon’s movement.

“We estimate that a land typhoon warning will be issued tonight… and tomorrow morning at 6am, the typhoon will approach Taiwan’s offshore,” the Central Weather Administration said.

Philippine weather specialist John Grender Almario told a press briefing on Sept 21 that “severe flooding and landslides” were expected in northern areas of main island Luzon.

Flood protests

“We expect that the effects of the super typhoon will be felt beginning tonight,” he said. “The strongest (effects) will be at 8am tomorrow.”

Strong winds and heavy rain are likely in other areas of Luzon, though Manila, where

thousands turned out on Sept 21 to protest

against fraudulent flood control projects, was expected to be largely spared.

The growing corruption scandal, involving billions of dollars lost to

incomplete or “ghost” flood control projects

, has seen multiple lawmakers implicated and sparked national outrage.

The Philippines is the first major landmass facing the Pacific cyclone belt, and the archipelago is hit by an average of 20 storms and typhoons each year, putting millions of people in disaster-prone areas in a state of constant poverty.

Scientists warn that storms are becoming more powerful as the world warms due, in part, to the effects of human-driven climate change.

On Sept 21, the Hong Kong Observatory said weather in the financial hub would “deteriorate gradually” on Sept 23 and 24, with gale-force winds and storm surge-driven sea levels similar to those seen in 2018‘s powerful Typhoon Mangkhut. AFP