Thousands flee as the fourth typhoon in a month hits the Philippines

Thousands of people sought shelter and ports were closed in the Philippines on Monday, officials said, as the disaster-stricken country was hit by another typhoon – the fourth in less than a month.
Typhoon Toraji hit near the town of Dilasag, about 220 kilometers (140 miles) northeast of the capital Manila, the national weather agency said.
“We are being hit by strong winds and heavy rain. Some trees are knocked down and electricity has been cut since yesterday,” Merwina Pableo, head of civil defense for Dinalungan town near Dilasag, told AFP.
Rescuers said about 7,000 people had been relocated from coastal areas and flood- and landslide-prone areas in Aurora and Isabela, the first two provinces affected before Toraji moved inland into the mountainous interior of the main island of Luzon.
In total, the government ordered the evacuation of 2,500 villages on Sunday, although the total number of evacuees was not yet known to the national disaster agency on Monday.
In the Dilasag landing area, 31-year-old schoolteacher Glenn Balanag filmed the onslaught of howling winds of 130 kilometers per hour that violently shook the coconut trees around his rural home.
“Large trees are falling and we have heard that the roofs of some houses have been damaged. The rain continues and a nearby river is rising,” he told AFP.
The National Weather Service warned of strong winds and “intense to torrential” rainfall of more than 200 millimeters (eight inches) in the north of the country, as well as a “moderate to high risk of storm surge” – huge waves up to three meters high (10 feet). high on the north coast.
Schools and government offices have been closed in areas expected to be hardest hit by the latest typhoon.
Nearly 700 passengers were stranded in ports on or near the typhoon, according to a Coast Guard tally on Monday. The weather service warned that “sea travel is risky for all types and tonnages of vessels.”
“All seafarers must remain in port or, if underway, seek shelter or safe harbor as quickly as possible until winds and waves subside,” it added.
Strong gusts
Aurora and Isabela officials said the main impact appeared to be from downed trees and utility poles blocking major roads.
“I don’t want to send people out to investigate yet. I don’t want them to be surprised by strong gusts,” said Constante Foronda, Isabela’s civil protection chief.
The weather service said the typhoon would move into the South China Sea late Monday.
Aurora provincial disaster management chief Elson Egargue told AFP he had dispatched road clearing teams after Toraji left the province in the early afternoon.
After Toraji, a tropical depression could potentially hit the region as early as Thursday evening, weather forecaster Veronica Torres told AFP.
Tropical Storm Man-yi, currently east of Guam, could also threaten the Philippines next week, she added.
Toraji followed three cyclones in less than a month, killing 159 people.
On Thursday, Typhoon Yinxing hit the country’s northern coast, damaging homes and buildings.
In one incident, a 12-year-old girl was crushed to death.
Previously, severe tropical storm Trami and super typhoon Kong-rey claimed a combined 158 lives, the national disaster management agency said, with most of that attributed to Trami.
Every year, about 20 major storms and typhoons hit the archipelago state or the surrounding waters.
A recent study has shown that due to climate change, storms in the Asia-Pacific region are increasingly forming closer to coasts, intensifying faster and lasting longer over land.