MANILA: The Philippines issued fresh weather warnings on Tuesday (Nov 12) as the fifth major storm in three weeks bore down on the archipelago, days after thousands were evacuated ahead of Typhoon Toraji.
Now a weakened tropical storm, Toraji blew out to sea overnight after causing relatively limited damage and no reported deaths.
But Tropical Storm Usagi is now just two days away from the coast of Luzon, the archipelago nation’s largest and most populous island, and gaining strength, the national weather agency said.
The government said it had evacuated more than 32,000 people from vulnerable areas in the northern Philippines ahead of Toraji’s Monday landfall, weeks after Severe Tropical Storm Trami, Typhoon Yinxing and Super Typhoon Kong-rey killed a combined 159 people.
Most of that tally came during Trami, which unleashed torrential rains that triggered deadly flash floods and landslides.
The government did not report substantial flooding caused by Toraji and has so far not called for evacuations ahead of Usagi’s arrival.
“Areas in northern Luzon are at risk of heavy rainfall, severe wind, and, possibly, storm surge inundation from (Usagi) which may cause considerable impacts,” the weather service said in a fresh bulletin, using a term for giant coastal waves.
Usagi has strengthened to 85km an hour and may start affecting the region late in the day and reach typhoon category by Wednesday, a day ahead of landfall, it added.
