Thousands were evacuated in coastal provinces of the Philippines on Monday, ahead of a typhoon due to make landfall in a region hit by some of the country鈥檚 deadliest storms.
Typhoon Kalmaegi is on a collision course with Leyte island, bringing 120-kilometre per hour winds and gusts of up to 150 kph, according to the national weather service.
鈥楨vacuations are on-going in Palo and Tanauan,鈥� said Leyte disaster official Roel Montesa, naming two of the towns hardest hit by storm surges in 2013, when Super Typhoon Haiyan killed more than 6,000 people.
Thousands of residents have also been evacuated since Sunday on neighbouring Samar island, where three-metre surges are predicted, according to civil defence official Randy Nicart.
鈥楽ome local governments are resorting to forced evacuations, including Guiuan town, where the storm is likely to make landfall,鈥� he said.
The Philippines is hit by an average of 20 storms and typhoons each year, routinely striking disaster-prone areas where millions live in poverty.
With Kalmaegi, the archipelago country has already reached that average, state weather service specialist Charmaine Varilla said, adding that at least 鈥榯hree to five more鈥� storms could be expected by December鈥檚 end.
Just south of Leyte, in Dinagat Islands province, governor Nilo Demerey said 10,000 to 15,000 people had been pre-emptively moved to safer areas.
鈥榃e have been implementing preemptive evacuations for the past two days, while there is time,鈥� he said.
Disaster official Joy Conales said residents of Dinagat鈥檚 Loreto town were told to evacuate to higher ground.
The town has a one-storey-tall 鈥榳ave breaker鈥� dike intended to protect its centre from big waves.
Scientists warn that storms are becoming more powerful due to human-driven climate change.
Varilla said Tuesday that higher numbers of cyclones typically accompany La Nina, a naturally occurring climate pattern that cools surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean.
The Philippines was hit by two major storms in September, including Super Typhoon Ragasa, which toppled trees and tore the roofs off buildings, and killed 14 people in neighbouring Taiwan.
