Manila (AsiaNews / Agencies) - More than 750 thousand people have fled their homes in central Philippines, ahead of the arrival of the powerful typhoon Melor whose winds have already exceeded 150 mph. Heavy rains have caused giant waves, floods and landslides; the situation will worsen with the arrival on the mainland of the typhoon. The entire Northern Samar strip, a mainly agricultural island with 1.5 million inhabitants is at risk. At the moment there are no reports of injuries or serious damage, but authorities remain on high alert.
Local sources said that in the last hours at least 40 domestic flights have been canceled; with regard to maritime navigation, 73 ferries and hundreds of fishing boats were ordered to remain anchored at the port.
Typhoon – Nona in the Philippines - should fall with particular violence in Sorsogon, some 400 km south-east of the capital Manila, Luzon. It should follow a path similar to that taken by the devastating typhoon Hayan / Yolanda, which in November 2013 made landfall on the central provinces of the country, causing more than 7,300 dead or missing and serious damage to homes and agriculture.
The authorities have ordered the closure of schools and government offices, evacuating a total of 750 thousand people scattered in the three provinces. The meteorologist Adam Douty stresses that "Typhoon Melor is a very compact, so the possibility of serious damage should be avoided by moving away from the epicenter." It has lost some of its intensity and should no longer be categorized as a super typhoon (5, like Yolanda), but it still represents a threat to human lives and property. "
The Manila government has prepared more than 200 thousand packages containing food and other essential items, to be distributed in case of need. Alexander Pama, head of the National Civil Protection, added that Melor would cause severe flooding, landslides and waves up to 4 meters; putting the supply of electricity and communications at risk.
In the Philippines, typhoons and tropical storms are a common occurrence, with an average of 20 per year and some of them fatal; the last of these, typhoon Koppu, struck the country last October, causing dozens of deaths and hundreds of thousands displaced. This was the second typhoon of a certain intensity that hit the Philippine archipelago in 2015, the 12th in total.