THE country issued warnings of new weather as its fifth major storm in three weeks hit the archipelago, days after thousands of people were evacuated ahead of Typhoon Toraji.
Toraji, now a weakened tropical storm, blew out to sea overnight after causing relatively limited damage and no fatalities were reported.
But Tropical Storm Usagi is now just two days away from hitting the coast of Luzon, the archipelago’s largest and most populous island, and is gaining strength, the national weather bureau said.
The government said it had evacuated more than 32,000 people from vulnerable areas in the northern Philippines ahead of Toraji’s landfall on Monday, weeks after severe Tropical Storm Trami, Typhoon Yinxing and Super Typhoon Kong-rey killed a total of 159 people.
Most of that figure came during Trami, which brought torrential rains that caused deadly flash floods and landslides.
The government has not reported any substantial flooding through Toraji and has not yet called for evacuations ahead of Usagi’s arrival.
“Areas in northern Luzon are at risk of heavy rainfall, strong winds and possible flooding from storm surges from Usagi, which could cause significant impacts,” the weather service said in a new bulletin, using a term for giant coastal waves.
Usagi has strengthened to 85 km/h and could start to hit the region later overnight and reach typhoon category this morning, a day ahead of landfall, it added.
Although the government reported no casualties from Toraji, they said about 15,000 people were still sheltering in mostly government-run evacuation centers.
After Usagi, the weather service said Tropical Storm Man-yi, currently near the Northern Mariana Islands, could also threaten the Philippines next week.
Every year, about 20 major storms and typhoons hit the archipelago or surrounding waters, killing dozens of people.
A recent study found that storms in the Asia-Pacific region are forming closer to coastlines, intensifying faster and lasting longer over land due to climate change. —AFP