Philippines cancels classes, flights as new storm looms
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The Philippines is hit by an average of 20 storms and typhoons each year.
PHOTO: AFP
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MANILA - The Philippines shut schools and scrapped flights on Sept 25 as a fresh storm threatened to hit just days after a super typhoon killed nine people in the archipelago.
Severe Tropical Storm Bualoi is forecast to intensify into a typhoon on Sept 26 and slam into the southern end of the Philippines’ largest island, Luzon.
“Widespread flooding and landslides in mountainous areas are possible,” Mr Benison Estareja, from the nation’s weather service, told a briefing.
The Philippines is hit by an average of 20 storms and typhoons each year,
Scientists warn that storms are becoming more powerful as the world warms due to the effects of human-driven climate change.
The authorities warned of a “high risk of life-threatening storm surge” of up to 3m with the coming storm.
The Philippine Coast Guard said around 1,500 people were stranded in ports of Bicol, the region where the typhoon is forecast to hit.
Thousands were also still displaced in the rain-soaked nation after Super Typhoon Ragasa passed over the country’s far northern end and killed at least nine people.
The weather bureau said the outer bands of Bualoi might also bring rain to the northern Philippines.
“These rains are continuous and may cause renewed flooding and landslides, especially in areas that are already saturated,” civil defence administrator Harold Cabreros said late on Sept 24.
Seven fishermen died during Ragasa when their boat was flipped over by huge waves in the far northern Cagayan province, while one person was killed by a toppled tree.
A typhoon-triggered landslide also killed a 74-year-old man and injured at least seven people in Benguet, a mountainous province north of Manila.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr pledged on Sept 24 that food, medicine and other aid was in position in areas where Bualoi is expected to pass.
The storms come as public anger seethes over a scandal involving bogus flood-control projects believed to have cost taxpayers billions of dollars. AFP
