The Philippines has raised its highest storm alert and evacuated thousands of people as it braces for Super Typhoon Usagi, the fifth storm to hit the country in three weeks. Packing sustained winds of up to 185km\/h (115mph), Usagi is set to make landfall in the already storm-battered northern part of the main island of Luzon on Thursday, according to the national weather agency. \u201cLandfall at or near super typhoon intensity is likely,\u201d the agency, PAGASA, said in its latest bulletin, adding that gusts could reach up to 230km\/h (143mph). Luzon is the country\u2019s most populous agricultural region. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr on Thursday urged residents in the affected areas to \u201cheed the warning\u201d of local governments. \u201cTo those who have been ordered to evacuate, please do so for your own safety,\u201d he said. A series of storms has already killed 159 people in the last few weeks and prompted the United Nations to request $32.9m in aid for the worst-affected regions. The national weather agency warned that the winds could cause \u201calmost total damage to structures of light materials, especially in highly exposed coastal areas\u201d, and \u201cheavy damage\u201d to buildings otherwise considered \u201clow risk\u201d. \u201cIntense to torrential rain\u201d and potentially \u201clife-threatening\u201d coastal waves of up to 3 metres (9 feet) were also forecast over two days, with the storm warning raised to the highest level on a five-step scale. The weather agency urged all ships to remain in port or immediately take shelter. In northern Cagayan province, where the super typhoon is expected to make landfall, officials worked in the rain to move residents along the coasts and on the banks of already swollen rivers. \u201cYesterday it was preemptive evacuations. Now we\u2019re doing forced evacuations,\u201d local disaster official Edward Gaspar told the AFP news agency by phone, adding that 1,404 residents were sheltering at a municipal gym. \u201cThere are many more evacuees in nearby villages but we haven\u2019t had time to visit and count them,\u201d he said. Cagayan\u2019s civil defence chief Rueli Rapsing said he expects local governments to take 40,000 people to shelters, roughly the same number that were preemptively evacuated before Typhoon Yinxing, which struck Cagayan\u2019s north coast earlier this month. More than 5,000 Cagayan residents were still in shelters following the previous storms as the Cagayan River, the country\u2019s largest, remained swollen from heavy rain that fell in several provinces upstream. After Usagi, Tropical Storm Man-yi is also forecast to strike around the capital Manila this weekend. About 20 big storms and typhoons hit the country or its surrounding waters each year, triggering floods, killing dozens of people and keeping millions in enduring poverty. Researchers say storms in the Asia Pacific region are increasingly forming closer to coastlines, intensifying more rapidly and lasting longer over land because of climate change. The Philippines is also often hit by earthquakes and has more than a dozen active volcanoes, making it one of the world\u2019s most disaster-prone countries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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