159 people have already died as a result of the severe weather disruptions, and the UN has asked for $32.9 million in relief for the areas that are most affected.
Super Typhoon Usagi slammed into the Philippines’ already disaster-ravaged north on Thursday, prompting the country to issue its highest storm alert and evacuate thousands of people.
Usagi, the fifth storm to batter the nation in as few as three weeks, is expected to strike the main island of Luzon at 0900 GMT or sooner with sustained winds of up to 185 kilometers (115 miles) per hour.
“Almost total damage to structures of light materials, especially in highly exposed coastal areas” and “heavy damage” to buildings that are generally deemed “low-risk” were the possible outcomes of the winds, according to the national weather agency.
The storm warning was elevated to the strongest signal on a five-step scale, and forecasts for the next two days included “intense to torrential rain” and potentially “life-threatening” coastal waves of up to three meters (nine feet).
Officials in the province of Cagayan, where the storm is predicted to reach land, worked in driving rain to evacuate people from the banks of already-swollen rivers and along the coastlines.
“Preemptive evacuations took place yesterday. Edward Gaspar, a local disaster administrator, told AFP over the phone that 1,404 residents were taking refuge at a municipal gym and that “we’re now doing forced evacuations.”
“There are many more evacuees in nearby villages but we haven’t had time to visit and count them,” he said.
Rueli Rapsing, the commander of civil defense in Cagayan, stated that he anticipates local governments to evacuate 40,000 people to shelters. This is around the same number that was evacuated in advance of Typhoon Yinxing, which hit the north coast of Cagayan earlier this month.
Because the largest river in the nation, the Cagayan, was still swollen after severe rains that occurred in numerous provinces upstream, more than 5,000 Cagayan people were still in shelters from the previous storms.
Rapsing told AFP, “We expect this situation to persist over the next few days” as Usagi continues to bring rain.
Following Usagi, Tropical Storm Man-yi is expected to make landfall this weekend in the Philippines’ central region, which includes the capital Manila.
“There is overlap between typhoons. UN Philippines Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Gustavo Gonzalez stated, “The next tropical storm is already hitting the communities again as soon as they try to recover from the shock.”
“In this context, the response capacity gets exhausted and budgets depleted.”
Each year, the archipelago nation or its surrounding waters are struck by about 20 powerful storms and typhoons, which leave millions of people in persistent poverty and claim many lives.
A recent study revealed that the Asia-Pacific region’s climate problem is causing storms to form closer to coastlines, strengthen more quickly, and last longer over land.
