MANILA – A super typhoon swept towards the northern Philippines on Tuesday, the country’s weather agency said, triggering evacuation orders for coastal communities expected to bear the brunt of the powerful storm.

Super Typhoon Doksuri was packing maximum sustained winds of 185kmh as it headed towards a group of three lightly populated islands off the northern tip of the main island of Luzon.

The storm, which is called “Egay” in the Philippines, was expected to make landfall or pass very close to the Babuyan Islands or north-eastern Cagayan province by Wednesday afternoon, the agency said in its bulletin.

It would then sweep across to Taiwan and south-eastern China.

Coastal communities in north-western and north-eastern Cagayan province had been ordered to evacuate their homes in anticipation of storm surges reaching, or even exceeding, 3m.

Three of the five Babuyan Islands are inhabited, with a population of around 20,000 people.

Local disaster official Charles Castillejos said coastal communities on the islands had been ordered to leave their homes, while fishermen had been told to get their boats out of the water.

“We sent the police to convince the hard-headed ones who refuse to evacuate,” he said.

Science and technology secretary Renato Solidum said people needed to be prepared for the typhoon because “things happen fast”.

“We need to remind our people the importance of readiness against storm surges, strong winds and also possible floods,” he told reporters.

Some farmers in the northern province of Isabela, bordering Cagayan, were seen leading their livestock to safety ahead of the storm.

“Those living on coastal areas have been moved to higher ground,” Isabela provincial disaster officer Constante Foronda told local radio station DZBB. “Our water search and rescue teams are now deployed in those areas most likely to be affected.”

The Philippines is hit by an average of 20 major storms each year that kill hundreds of people and keep vast regions in perpetual poverty.

Scientists have warned that such storms, which also kill livestock and destroy key infrastructure, are becoming more powerful as the world gets warmer because of climate change.

By midday on Wednesday, the storm was expected to have dumped more than 200mm of rain on the islands and the northern portion of Cagayan, including Babuyan Islands, as well as Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur provinces. AFP