Super Typhoon Mangkhut smashes into Philippines

Super Typhoon Mangkhut slammed into the northern Philippines on Saturday with violent winds and torrential rains, as authorities warned millions in its path of potentially heavy destruction.

The massive storm, which forecasters have called the strongest typhoon
this year, blew down trees, tore off roofs and knocked out power when it made
landfall on the island of Luzon in the pre-dawn darkness.

As it barrelled west toward China across the disaster-prone archipelago,
the storm’s gusts strengthened up to 330 kilometres (205 miles) per hour but
its sustained winds had weakened to 185 km per hour.

“As much as possible, stay indoors,” Chris Perez, a forecaster for the
state weather service, warned the roughly four million people in the path of
the storm after it landed at 1:40 am (1740 Friday GMT).

An average of 20 typhoons and storms lash the Philippines each year,
killing hundreds of people and leaving millions in near-perpetual poverty.

Thousands of people fled their homes in high-risk areas ahead of the
storm’s arrival because of major flooding and landslide risks.

Authorities hiked the storm alert on Friday to its second-highest level in
northern Luzon provinces and mobilised rescue teams.

The elevated warning level carried risks of “very heavy” damage to
communities hit by the typhoon and a storm surge that was forecast to hit six
meters in some areas, the weather service said.

– ‘We are terrified’ –

Residents had started lashing down their roofs and gathering supplies days
before the arrival of the storm.

“Among all the typhoons this year, this one (Mangkhut) is the strongest,”
Japan Meteorological Agency forecaster Hiroshi Ishihara told AFP on Friday.

“This is a violent typhoon. It has the strongest sustained wind (among the
typhoons of this year).” After blasting the Philippines, Mangkhut is
predicted to hurtle towards China’s heavily populated southern coast this
weekend.

“They (authorities) said this typhoon is twice as strong as the last
typhoon, that’s why we are terrified,” Myrna Parallag, 53, told AFP after
fleeing her home in the northern Philippines.

“We learned our lesson last time. The water reached our roof,” she said,
referring to when her family rode out a typhoon at home in 2016.

The country’s deadliest on record is Super Typhoon Haiyan, which left more
than 7,350 people dead or missing across the central Philippines in November
2013.

Poor communities reliant on fishing are some of the most vulnerable to
fierce typhoon winds and the storm surges that pound the coast.

“The rains will be strong and the winds are no joke… We may have a storm
surge that could reach four storeys high,” Michael Conag, a spokesman for
local civil defence authorities, told AFP.

The storm is not forecast to directly hit Hong Kong, but forecasters say
the city will be lashed by Mangkhut’s wind and rain.

The Hong Kong Observatory warned that the massive typhoon will pose a
“severe threat” to China’s southern coast before moving on to northern
Vietnam.