Manila: Super Typhoon Fung-wong, the largest storm to hit the Philippines this year, began impacting the country’s northeastern coast on Sunday, causing power outages, displacing nearly a million residents, and prompting urgent evacuation warnings from the defense chief for those in high-risk areas.
According to Emirates News Agency, the typhoon, with its substantial rain and wind band extending approximately 1,600 kilometers, threatens to affect nearly two-thirds of the Southeast Asian archipelago. This occurs as the Philippines is still recovering from Typhoon Kalmaegi’s destruction, which resulted in at least 224 fatalities in central island provinces before moving on to Vietnam, where it claimed at least five more lives.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has declared a state of emergency in response to the severe damage from Kalmaegi and the anticipated impact of Fung-wong. The typhoon is advancing with sustained winds reaching up to 185 kph and gusts up to 230 kph near the coastal waters of Pandan town in the eastern Catanduanes province, where heavy rains and fog have significantly reduced visibility. Meteorologists predict the typhoon will make landfall along the coasts of Aurora or Isabela province by late Sunday or early Monday.
In the Philippines, tropical cyclones with sustained winds of 185 kph or more are classified as super typhoons, a term adopted to highlight the urgency and severity of these extreme weather events.