Philippines evacuates thousands ahead of Typhoon Yinxing

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The Philippines has evacuated thousands of people from coastal communities ahead of a major typhoon, officials said Thursday, just weeks after a tropical cyclone killed at least 150 people.

With maximum sustained wind speeds of 175 kilometers (109 miles) per hour, Typhoon Yinxing could make landfall in the northern Philippines later in the day or early Friday, the state weather agency said.

Yinxing is the third storm in less than a month to threaten the Philippines, after severe tropical storm Trami and super typhoon Kong-rey combined to leave 158 dead, the national disaster agency said, with most of the toll attributed to to Trami.

At least 17,000 people in coastal areas of Cagayan province in the country’s far north moved into temporary shelters on Wednesday to avoid potential flooding from heavy rains now lashing the region, the provincial rescue official told AFP Rueli Rapsing.

“I expect more evacuees to arrive as there is an ongoing evacuation in the municipalities,” Rapsing said.

The national weather agency said Cagayan, home to about 1.3 million people, could bear the brunt of Yinxing based on its current track.

“We’ve already exhausted the province’s rapid response fund and we’re actually asking the national disaster council to top up the rapid response fund so we can provide assistance,” Rapsing said.

In Ilocos Norte province, near Cagayan, rescuers were on standby to help local police, firefighters and soldiers in the emergency response, provincial rescue official Randy Nicolas told AFP.

Nicolas said he is closely monitoring possible landslides, flooding and river swelling in the province with storm surges — huge waves along the coast also a concern in Ilocos Norte and Cagayan.

Disaster officials in the mountainous province of Apayao said nearly 500 people had been evacuated.

“We have really prioritized preventive evacuations because we want to have zero deaths here in Apayao,” provincial disaster official Aldrin Agmata told AFP.

School was suspended in many areas in the north, and President Ferdinand Marcos put all government agencies on high alert so they could respond quickly.

“Remember, every life is important, so we should always be prepared,” Marcos said in a statement on Wednesday.

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