In Taiwan, authorities said nearly 300 people will be evacuated from Hualien County in the east, adding that figures could change depending on the typhoon’s movement.
“We estimate that a land typhoon warning will be issued tonight … and tomorrow morning at 6am the typhoon will approach Taiwan’s offshore,” the Central Weather Administration said.
Philippine weather specialist John Grender Almario told a press briefing that “severe flooding and landslides” were expected in northern areas of main island Luzon.
Flood protests
“We expect that the effects of the super typhoon will be felt beginning tonight,” he said. “The strongest [effects] will be at 8am [local time] tomorrow.”
Strong winds and heavy rain are likely in other areas of Luzon, although Manila, where thousands turned out to protest against fraudulent flood control projects, was expected to be largely spared.
The growing corruption scandal, involving billions of dollars lost to incomplete or “ghost” flood control projects, has seen multiple lawmakers implicated and sparked national outrage.
The Philippines is the first major landmass facing the Pacific cyclone belt, and the archipelago is hit by an average of 20 storms and typhoons each year, putting millions of people in disaster-prone areas in a state of constant poverty.
Scientists warn that storms are becoming more powerful as the world warms due, in part, to the effects of human-driven climate change.
The Hong Kong Observatory said weather in the financial hub would “deteriorate gradually” tomorrow and Wednesday, with gale-force winds and storm surge-driven sea levels similar to those seen in 2018’s powerful Typhoon Mangkhut.
-Agence France-Presse