Philippines hit by fourth typhoon in less than a month

In Dilasag, Aurora province, after Typhoon Toraji hit the country’s northeastern coast. HANDOUT / AFP Thousands of people were sheltered, ports closed and roads paralyzed by landslides in the Philippines on Monday, November 8, as the country was hit by a fourth typhoon in less than a month. Toraji made landfall Monday at 8:10 a.m. local time (1:10 a.m. in Paris) near the town of Dilasag, about 220 kilometers northeast of the capital, Manila, the national weather agency said. “We are being hit by strong winds and heavy rain. Some trees are toppled and electricity has been cut off since yesterday,” Merwina Pableo, disaster management official for the town of Dinalungan, located near Dilasag, told Agence France-Presse (AFP). Rescuers said 8,000 people were displaced from coastal areas as well as places susceptible to flooding or landslides in Aurora, Isabela, Ifugao and Mountain Province, which were first hit by Toraji, which then headed towards the mountainous regions of the island of Luzon. Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers Climate: is it better to talk about “warming” or “disruption”? Read later Schools and administrative buildings closed Residents of 2,500 villages were ordered to evacuate on Sunday, but the National Disaster Management Agency had not yet specified on Monday how many people had already been evacuated sheltered. Schools, ports and administrative buildings have also been closed in areas deemed particularly at risk. The typhoon hit the mountains of the island of Luzon before heading towards the provinces of Abra and Ilocos Sur at a speed of 120 km/h and then moving away into the South China Sea on Monday night , said the National Weather Service. Landslides caused by heavy rains have buried three key roads in the Cordillera mountains, a civil protection official told AFP. A ferry ran aground in rough seas off the island of Romblon, but all 156 passengers and 38 crew members were rescued unharmed, the coast guard said. 700 passengers stranded The national weather agency had warned of strong winds and “intense to torrential” rainfall, exceeding 200 millimeters over a 24-hour period in the north of the country. Newsletter “Human heat” How to face the climate challenge? Every week, our best articles on the subject Subscribe In Dilasag, Glenn Balanag, a 31-year-old teacher, filmed wind gusts reaching 130 km/h. “Large trees are falling and we have heard that the roofs of some houses have been damaged. The rain continues and a nearby river is rising,” he told AFP. Authorities also warned of a “moderate to high risk of storm surges” – giant waves up to three meters high on the north coast until Tuesday. Nearly 700 passengers were stranded at ports in or near the typhoon’s path, according to a Coast Guard tally, with weather services warning that “sea travel is risky for all types and tonnages of vessels.” . Storms increasingly near the coast Elson Egargue, head of disaster management in Aurora province, told AFP that he had sent teams to clear roads after the typhoon hit. After Toraji, a tropical depression could also hit the region as early as Thursday evening, meteorologist Veronica Torres told AFP. Tropical Storm Man-yi, currently east of Guam, could also threaten the Philippines next week, she added. Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers Asia, continent most affected by climate disasters in 2023 Read later Toraji, with winds reaching maximum speeds of 130 km/h, is the fourth typhoon to hit the Philippines in less than a year months, after the passage of Trami, Kong-rey and Yinxing, which left a total of 159 dead. Typhoon Yinxing hit the northern coast of the country on Thursday, killing a 12-year-old girl and damaging buildings. A few weeks earlier, violent tropical storm Trami and supertyphoon Kong-rey killed 158 people, according to the National Disaster Management Agency. Around 20 major storms and typhoons hit the archipelago or its surrounding waters each year. Storms in the Asia-Pacific region are forming closer to shore, intensifying faster and lasting longer over land due to climate change, a recent study shows. Also listen to Why COP29 is so crucial Le Monde with AFP Reuse this content



Source link