More than one million people have been evacuated and at least one person killed as floodwaters rose in the Philippines before typhoon Fung-wong’s expected landfall on the East Coast.
The super typhoon is expected to bring wind and heavy rain to large parts of the archipelago nation, where last week more than 220 people were killed by typhoon Kalmaegi.
One death from typhoon Fung-wong was recorded on Sunday. Juniel Tagarino, a rescuer in Catbalogan City, told AFP the body of a 64-year-old woman attempting to evacuate had been pulled from under debris and fallen trees.
“Last night, the wind was so strong and the rain was heavy … According to her family members, she might have forgotten something and went back inside her house,” Tagarino said, adding that her relatives were just 50 meters away when they realized she was missing.
In Aurora province, where the eye of the storm is expected to make landfall, Aries Ora, 34, a government worker, told AFP the rain was still light as he boarded up his home in the town of Dipaculao with steel sheets and wooden boards.
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“What really scares us is that the expected landfall is at night,” he said.
“Unlike previous typhoons, we won’t be able to clearly see the movement of the wind and what’s happening around us.”
Schools and government offices have been ordered closed on Monday across the main island of Luzon, including the capital, Manila, where nearly 300 flights have been canceled.
Earlier on Sunday, Catanduanes, a small island that the state weather service said could take a “direct hit”, was already being lashed by wind and rain, with storm surges sending waves hurtling over streets and floodwaters rising in some areas.
Rafaelito Alejandro, a civil defense deputy administrator, told a news briefing: “As we speak they are feeling the impact of the typhoon, especially in Catanduanes, because the storm’s eye is closest there.”
Edson Casarino, 33, who lives in the town of Virac in Catanduanes, said: “The waves started roaring around 7am. When the waves hit the seawall, it felt like the ground was shaking.”
Video verified by AFP showed a church in the town surrounded by floodwaters that reached halfway up its entrance.
Flooding was also reported in southern Luzon’s Bicol region, according to Alejandro, who later confirmed the preemptive evacuation of nearly 1.2 million people nationwide.
In Guinobatan, a town of about 80,000 in the region’s Albay province, verified video showed streets transformed into a raging torrent of floodwaters.
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Typhoon Fung-wong is expected to bring at least 200mm (8in) of rain to many parts of the country, according to government meteorologists.
Scientists have said that storms are becoming more powerful due to the human-driven climate crisis. Warmer oceans allow typhoons to strengthen rapidly and a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, meaning heavier rainfall.
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