Thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate from coastal areas in the eastern Philippines before Typhoon Kalmaegi’s expected landfall.
Forecasters have warned of torrential rains, storm surges of up to 3 metres (10ft) and wind gusts of up to 150km/h (93mph) as the centre of the storm was expected to come ashore on Monday.
More than 70,000 people in the coastal towns of Guiuan and Salcedo on Samar Island and Mercedes in Camarines Norte province were ordered to move to evacuation centres or buildings certified as sturdy enough to withstand the impact of the typhoon. Authorities also prohibited fishermen from venturing out to sea in the east-central region.
The storm is predicted to make landfall in either Guiuan or nearby municipalities.
Guiuan is no stranger to typhoons. It was badly hit in November 2013 when one of the most powerful tropical cyclones on record smashed into the Philippines. The storm left more than 7,300 people dead or missing and displaced over four million people.
Human-driven climate change
Kalmaegi is forecast to travel westwards overnight before hitting central island provinces on Tuesday. This includes Cebu, which is still recovering from a magnitude 6.9 earthquake in September.
The Philippines is battered by about 20 typhoons and storms annually, and scientists are warning that they are becoming more powerful due to human-driven climate change.
The archipelago was hit by two major storms in September, including Super Typhoon Ragasa, which toppled trees, tore the roofs off buildings and killed 14 people in neighbouring Taiwan.
The Philippines is also regularly shaken by earthquakes and has more than a dozen active volcanoes, making it one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.
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