MANILA: Thousands of residents of the Philippines left their homes along the Pacific coast on Saturday (Oct 18) as weather experts warned of coastal flooding ahead of Tropical Storm Fengshen’s landfall.
The storm was forecast to hit Catanduanes, an impoverished island of 270,000 people, late Saturday with gusts of up to 90km an hour, the government weather service said.
A second landfall is expected on the main island of Luzon on Sunday morning.
Fengshen will bring heavy rainfall, along with a “minimal to moderate risk” of coastal flooding from 1-2 metre waves being pushed ashore by the disturbance, the government weather service said.
Nearly 17,000 residents of the eastern province of Albay, along with more than 9,000 in nearby Catanduanes island moved to safer ground, local disaster officials said.
The evacuations are a well-rehearsed routine in a region that is often the first major landmass struck by cyclones that form in the western Pacific Ocean.
Source: CNA
