Typhoon Weakens but Leaves 1 Dead as it Crosses Philippines

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council reported that some 162,729 families or 733,150 individuals were evacuated in the Visayas and southern Luzon regions.

Christmas lanterns and lights, tin roofs and branches littered the streets of the city of Legazpi, which was battered by strong winds.

Those who had fled, many thousands of them evacuated from Bicol over the weekend, had to sleep in makeshift centers, sleeping on unused classroom tables as flying debris increased the danger of going outside.

Melor whipped the vast Bicol peninsula, with a population of 5.4 million people, overnight before slamming into the Romblon islands on Tuesday morning.

The winds had been gusting in a speed of up to 185 kilometers per hour since Monday.

Meteorologists from the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) monitor and plot the direction of powerful Typhoon Melor at their headquarters in suburban Manila.

The state weather bureau PAGASA said Melor had maintained wind speeds of 140 kilometers (87 miles) an hour as it crashed into Mindoro Oriental at 10.30 a.m. (0230GMT) Tuesday. Typhoon Melor weakened Tuesday as it crossed over the central Philippines, leaving one man dead and wide areas without power.

Residents carrying bags of clothes and water jugs clambered onto army trucks in Albay’s Legazpi City, as authorities sounded an evacuation alarm.

Sabah may for a start experience sudden rainfall which is preceded by strong waves of up to 3.5m off Sandakan with winds between 40 and 50 kmph.

Aurelio said that the typhoon would weaken into a severe tropical storm between Wednesday morning and Thursday morning.

Melor, which is gaining strength as it moved across the Philippines archipelago towards Manila, is also categorised as a compact typhoon. About 730,000 people were evacuated to safer grounds before the typhoon hit.

“What we are asking for is the early restoration of electricity”, he said, adding the entire province of 1.2 million people was without power.

Meanwhile, another tropical storm is forming east of Mindanao, the country’s main southern island.

Dozens of flights were canceled, around 7,000 sea travelers were stranded in ports, power was down in more than a dozen areas and many schools were closed, the agency said Tuesday.

The typhoon, reminiscent of last year’s deadly Super Typhoon Haiyan as it plotted a similar path, slammed the Philippines on Monday evening, forcing 725,000 to flee their homes.