MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Thousands of people were forcibly evacuated Monday from 2,500 villages in the northern Philippines as another typhoon threatened the region already devastated by floods and landslides of three storms in less than a month.
Typhoon Toraji was expected to hit the mountainous region of Luzon, where President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had surveyed the damage the day before. of the last storm and led the distribution of food parcels to residents. Marcos did not participate in the Asia-Pacific cooperation forum held this week in Peru to oversee recovery efforts after the back-to-back storms.
The fast-moving Toraji was about 100 kilometers (62 miles) east of the town of Casiguran in northeastern Aurora province on Monday morning, with sustained winds of up to 130 kilometers (81 miles) per hour and gusts up to 180 km/h (112 mph). It is expected to track northwest through Luzon, weaken as it crosses a mountain range, and then blow into the South China Sea.
Interior Minister Jonvic Remulla on Sunday ordered the forced evacuation of residents of 2,500 villages expected to be hit by Toraji, locally known as Nika, warning that Luzon’s rain-soaked mountains, valleys and plains were more susceptible to flash floods and landslides. With the typhoon quickly approaching, there was little time to bring large numbers of people to safety, he said.
“We understand that some want to stay, but we have to make them leave,” Remulla told reporters.
The last two typhoons and a tropical storm have caused more than 160 deaths, damaged thousands of homes and farmland, and affected more than 9 million people, including hundreds of thousands who fled to emergency shelters after dumped one to two months’ worth of rain in just 24 hours in some towns and villages.
Overwhelmed, the Philippines received help from Southeast Asian countries led by Singapore, as well as longtime allies the United States, to transport food, water and other aid to the northern provinces hard hit.
The Philippine archipelago is often hit by typhoons and earthquakes and has more than a dozen active volcanoes, making it one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world.
In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful tropical cyclones on record, left more than 7,300 dead or missing, razed entire villages and caused ships to run aground and homes to crush in the central Philippines.
