Typhoon kills 3 in Philippines, gains strength as it heads towards Japan
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A villager wades in the flood-hit town of Pagsanjan, south of Manila.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
MANILA – The first typhoon to hit the Philippines in 2024 killed at least three people, further gaining strength as it headed to Japan.
A seven-month-old baby and two others died on May 26 after they were hit by falling trees in Quezon, a province near the capital Manila, reported the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Typhoon Ewiniar, locally known as Aghon, also left thousands without electricity as strong winds knocked down power lines and shut nine plants, adding to the 12 that had been inoperative prior to the storm, according to the Department of Energy. The forced outage reduced power capacity by nearly 4,300MW.
Packing maximum sustained winds of 140kmh, Ewiniar is forecast to hit the northern provinces of Cagayan and Batanes by May 28 before exiting Philippine waters early on May 30, the local weather bureau said.
It is forecast to move towards the south of Japan, according to the Hong Kong Observatory.
The Philippines has an average of 20 tropical cyclones a year, making it one of the world’s worst-hit countries. BLOOMBERG
