Tens of thousands of people have been forced to evacuate in the Philippines and Taiwan as Super Typhoon Ragasa barrelled towards the southeast Asian countries with destructive winds and torrential rainfall on Monday.
Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos Jr has instructed the disaster response agency to go on full alert and mobilise all government agencies.
Ragasa, the strongest storm on the planet this year so far, has threatened the north of the island country and set off storm alerts across east and southeast Asia. Forecasters said Ragasa, known locally as Typhoon Nando, had undergone “explosive strengthening” over the Philippine Sea.
The storm intensified as it packed winds of 215kmph (134 mph) and gusts of up to 295kmph (160 mph), and brushed Babuyan Island in the early hours of Monday. Ragasa is headed for possible landfall over Calayan Island, raising the risk of storm surges exceeding three metres (9ft), the state weather agency said.
Authorities have asked residents on the Babuyan Islands, which remained under a high-level storm warning signal, to stay away from coastal areas and riverbanks.
Interior secretary Jonvic Remulla said officials “must waste no time in moving families out of danger zones”, adding that pre-emptive evacuations had begun in flood-prone communities in Cagayan, Isabela, Ilocos and Batanes provinces.
In Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration said nearly 300 residents had been moved from at-risk areas in Hualien County. The island nation has issued land and sea warnings, cancelled 146 domestic flights, and evacuated more than 900 people from mountainous southern and eastern areas.
“A land typhoon warning will be issued tonight, and tomorrow morning the typhoon will approach Taiwan’s offshore,” the agency said.
Philippine forecasters said the most severe conditions were expected on Monday morning.
“We expect severe flooding and landslides in northern Luzon,” weather specialist John Grender Almario told a press briefing. “The strongest effects will be at 8am tomorrow.”
Storm surges exceeding three metres are forecast in Batanes, northern Cagayan and Ilocos, while waves up to 11 metres will make conditions perilous at sea.
The Philippine government has warned of power outages, landslides, floods and dangerous seas as it suspended work and classes across Metro Manila and large parts of Luzon.
Airlines have cancelled two dozen domestic flights, mostly serving Luzon’s main hubs, while ports have suspended ferry services owing to the severe storm conditions.
Beyond the Philippines and Taiwan, Ragasa is expected to continue westwards through the Luzon Strait before edging towards southern China.
Vietnam’s defence ministry on Monday ordered its forces to monitor the storm and prepare for a possible landfall later this week.
Meteorologists warn that the system could bring storm surges similar to those caused by Typhoon Mangkhut, which inundated parts of Hong Kong in 2018.
The Hong Kong Observatory said the weather would “deteriorate gradually” on Tuesday and Wednesday, with gale-force winds and flooding likely.
A 36-hour shutdown will begin on Tuesday evening in Hong Kong as residents started stockpiling daily necessities on Monday morning. Long queues were seen at supermarkets as locals gathered to buy basic food items.
Milk was reportedly sold out and vegetables are being sold for more than triple their normal price at fresh markets, reported Reuters witnesses.
With the storm expected to affect air travel, airlines such as Cathay Pacific and Hong Kong Airlines waived rebooking fees for flights between Tuesday and Thursday.
In China, authorities have activated flood control measures in several southern provinces, warning of heavy rain beginning Tuesday night.
The storm comes amid widespread protests in the Philippine capital Manila over a corruption scandal linked to billions of pesos in “ghost” flood-control projects. The capital, however, is expected to be largely spared the worst of the storm.
The Philippines, which is struck by around 20 cyclones a year, is highly vulnerable to the climate crisis.
Scientists warn that storms are becoming more powerful as oceans are warming.
Forecasters said Ragasa was moving northwest at 15kmph over very warm waters, an environment primed to fuel further intensification.
Ragasa isn’t the only storm intensifying in the Pacific Ocean this week. Super Typhoon Neoguri has also reached category 4 equivalent strength. The early Sunday morning visible satellite images revealed that both typhoons were very large and undergoing rapid intensification.
