Tens of thousands of people ordered to evacuate as Philippines braces for typhoon
Authorities have warned of potentially deadly storm surges of up to nearly 10 feet
Philippine officials have ordered tens of thousands of people to evacuate to safer areas and prohibited fishermen from venturing out to sea in an eastern region as a typhoon approached from the Pacific.
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Authorities warned of torrential rain and potentially deadly storm surges of up to nearly 10 feet.
Typhoon Kalmaegi was last spotted about 146 miles east of the town of Guiuan in the province of Eastern Samar, with sustained winds of up to 74mph and gusts of up to 93mph.
It was forecast to hit land later today, and expected to blow westwards overnight and on Tuesday to batter central island provinces, including Cebu.
Cebu is still recovering from a 6.9-magnitude earthquake that hit on September 30 and left at least 79 dead and displaced thousands of people when their houses collapsed or were severely damaged.
Kalmaegi, locally named Tino, was forecast to further strengthen over the Philippine Sea before making landfall in Guiuan or nearby municipalities, where Eastern Samar governor RV Evardone said he has issued mandatory evacuation orders starting on Monday.
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More than 70,000 people in the coastal towns of Guiuan, Mercedes and Salcedo were ordered to move to evacuation centres or concrete houses and buildings certified as sturdy enough to withstand the impact of the typhoon.
Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful tropical cyclones on record, slammed ashore into Guiuan in November 2013 then raked across the central Philippines, leaving more than 7,300 people dead or missing, flattening entire villages and sweeping scores of ships inland.
Haiyan demolished about a million houses and displaced more than four million people in one of the country's poorest regions.
Thousands of villagers were also being evacuated from island provinces near Eastern Samar, officials said, and disaster response agencies, including the coastguard, have been put on alert.
The Philippines is battered by about 20 typhoons and storms each year.
It is often hit by earthquakes and has more than a dozen active volcanoes, making it one of the world's most disaster-prone countries.