Disaster-weary Philippines hit by fourth typhoon in under a month

Philippines ordered thousands to evacuate and shut ports as Typhoon Toraji hit its northeast coast near Dilasag, officials reported Monday. The fourth typhoon in under a month, Toraji struck about 220 kilometres from the capital Manila. No casualties or damage were reported immediately, according to the national weather agency.

Thousands of villages were ordered to evacuate and ports shut down, officials said Monday, as the disaster-weary Philippines was struck by another typhoon -- the fourth in less than a month.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage as Typhoon Toraji hit the nation's northeast coast near Dilasag town, about 220 kilometres (140 miles) northeast of the capital, Manila, the national weather agency said.

"We're getting hit with strong winds and heavy rain. Some trees are being toppled and power has been cut since yesterday," Merwina Pableo, civil defence chief of Dinalungan town near Dilasag, told AFP.

"We cannot go out yet to make a damage assessment."

At least 1,400 people were moved from coastal areas as well as flood-prone and landslide-prone areas of Dinalungan and nearby Baler municipality, said disaster operations official Donald Allan Ty.

In all, the government ordered 2,500 villages to be evacuated on Sunday, though the national disaster office does not have the total number of evacuees as of Monday.

Toraji, packing maximum winds of 130 kilometres (80 miles) an hour, was moving northwest rapidly and is forecast to blow out to the South China Sea late Monday after slicing through the mountainous interior of the main island of Luzon, the weather service said.

(AFP)

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