Super Typhoon Man-Yi Strikes Philippines’ Main Island Luzon

A super typhoon has reached the Philippines’ primary island of Luzon for a second time, as weather experts caution about a “life-threatening storm surge,” intense rainfall, and powerful winds. Man-Yi, identified domestically as Pepito, initially impacted Cantanduanes island in the country’s east at 21:40 local time (13:40 GMT) on Saturday, exhibiting maximum sustained wind speeds of 195 km/h (121mph), according to the national weather agency. Evacuation directives have been issued for over a million individuals since the initial alerts were disseminated. Man-Yi represents the sixth typhoon to affect the Philippines within a single month; a minimum of 160 fatalities have been attributed to the five preceding storms. The super typhoon previously tore across Cantanduanes, causing trees to be uprooted, inflicting damage on several structures, and bringing down electrical lines. The storm maintained its intensity upon making landfall in Aurora province and commencing its passage across Luzon island, as reported by the Philippines News Agency, with certain wind gusts reaching up to 305 km/h (189 mph). Additional extensive heavy rainfall from Man-Yi is anticipated in the northern regions of the primary island. A minimum of 200mm (7.8 inches) is projected to accumulate through Monday, potentially resulting in “life-threatening” inundation and devastating mudslides, thereby exposing millions to the danger of storm surges, the government stated. Manila, the nation’s capital, home to approximately 15 million residents, is not predicted to lie within the typhoon’s trajectory. On Sunday, earlier in the day, numerous flights were canceled owing to the approaching storm, as per local broadcaster ABS-CBN News. Over 500,000 individuals complied with evacuation directives prior to the storm, the civil defense agency reported. Its director, Ariel Nepomuceno, implored all residents situated in the storm’s anticipated route to adhere to these instructions. “It is more dangerous now for those in landslide-prone areas because the ground has been saturated by the consecutive typhoons,” Mr. Nepomuceno commented. Glenda Llamas was one of the individuals compelled to vacate their residences. “We are terrified of the typhoon, as it may intensify and the waters can rise,” she conveyed to the AFP news agency from a refuge in Albay, an eastern Luzon province, on Saturday. “If we didn’t evacuate we wouldn’t be able to get out later, we don’t have anyone else in the house but us.” “We already have a lot of phobia due to the previous calamities that happened here like floods, strong winds and other disasters,” stated Melchor Bilay, who was moved to a school located further south, in Sorsogon province. Although typhoons are a regular occurrence in the Philippines, meteorologists note that observing such a high number of tropical storms concurrently in the Pacific during November is atypical. Tropical Storm Trami deposited a month’s equivalent of rainfall across extensive areas of the northern Philippines in late October, resulting in dozens of fatalities. Subsequently, Typhoon Kong-rey struck, claiming the lives of at least three individuals. It also marked the most significant typhoon to directly impact Taiwan in almost 30 years. Typhoon Yinxing impacted the northern part of Luzon island earlier this month, delivering almost 250mm (10in) of precipitation to certain localities. Since then, Typhoon Toraji occurred, followed by Typhoon Usagi earlier this week, which generated a three-metre storm surge and heavy rainfall surpassing 200mm (8 inches). Storms affecting the Philippines have grown in frequency and intensity, an issue significantly worsened by climate change. The IPCC, the United Nations’ climate change organization, has stated that although the global occurrence of tropical cyclones is improbable to rise as the planet warms, it is “very likely” that these cyclones will exhibit greater rainfall rates and attain higher peak wind speeds. This implies that a larger percentage would escalate to the most severe classifications. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC disclaims responsibility for material found on external sites. Information regarding our approach to external linking is available.