Typhoon Mangkhut kills at least a dozen in the Philippines

Megan Palin and wires news.com.au

The most ferocious typhoon to hit the disaster-prone Philippines this year slammed ashore before dawn in Cagayan province on the northeastern tip of Luzon island, a breadbasket that is also a region of flood-prone rice plains and mountain provinces with a history of deadly landslides.

China and the Philippines agreed to postpone a visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi that was to start Sunday due to the onslaught, which caused nearly 150 flights, a third of them international, to be canceled and halted sea travel.

Presidential adviser Francis Tolentino said the 12 died mostly in landslides and houses that got pummeled by the storm’s fierce winds and rain.

Among the dead were an infant and a 2-year-old child who died with their parents after the couple refused to immediately evacuate from their high-risk community in a mountain town in Nueva Vizcaya province, Tolentino said.

“They can’t decide for themselves where to go,” he said of the children, expressing frustration that the tragedy was not prevented.

Tolentino, who has been assigned by President Rodrigo Duterte to help coordinate disaster response, said at least two other people were missing and added that the death toll could climb to at least 16 once other casualty reports were verified.

Authorities were also searching for about 70 men who reportedly returned to their coastal village to check on their homes during dangerous storm surges.

The typhoon blew in windows, hurled debris and knocked out power lines when it made landfall on the island of Luzon in the pre-dawn darkness.

It packed powerful gusts of up to 255 kilometres per hour and sustained winds of 205 kilometres per hour while heading west across the disaster-prone archipelago towards China, and has left scenes of destruction in its wake.

“As much as possible, stay indoors,” Chris Perez, a forecaster for the state weather service, warned the more than five million people in the path of the storm after it landed early this morning.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana described the climate as a “life and death situation”.

Tuguegarao airport terminal was also badly damaged, its roof and glass windows shattered by strong wind, which sent chairs, tables and papers flying around inside, Lorenzana said.

Government forecaster Rene Paciente told Associated Press reporters resistance against the storm’s fury was futile.

“It can lift cars, you can’t stand, you can’t even crawl against that wind,” he said.

Philippines’ National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council has claimed 5.2 million people are likely to be directly affected by the storm, while up to 43 million people could be exposed to its cyclonic winds.

Powerful photos showing the devastation left by the typhoon have begun to emerge, while official weather maps and dramatic NASA pictures taken from space also revealing the sheer scale of the natural disaster.

An average of 20 typhoons and storms lash the Philippines each year, killing hundreds of people and leaving millions in near-perpetual poverty.

Thousands of people fled their homes in high-risk areas ahead of the storm’s arrival because of major flooding and landslide risks.

The “extremely dangerous” super typhoon is predicted to be the one of the strongest systems on record.

Typhoon Mangkhut is the equivalent of a Category 5 severe tropical cyclone, boasting maximum sustained winds of 205kph and gusts up to 285kph.

Bureau of Meteorology Australia tropical climatologist Greg Browning told news.com.au that Mangkhut was “significantly stronger” than Hurricane Florence, which is simultaneously hitting the US state of North Carolina as locals evacuate the region to avoid the onslaught.

“(Mangkhut is) relatively rare (because it’s) at the top of the severe scale,” Mr Browning said.

“It’s extremely dangerous as it’s a very large system with very strong winds and a potential storm surge over a large distance.

“There will be very heavy rainfall associated with it which has potential to cause widespread damage.”

Mr Browning said Mangkhut was the most powerful storm system to have developed on Earth this year but that it wasn’t the strongest since records began in 1946, as has been reported internationally. Typhoon Haiyan - which killed more than 6,000 people when it lashed the Philippines with maximum sustained winds of 230kph and gusts of 325kph in 2013 - holds that record.

On Friday, Mangkhut was in the Pacific, about 450km from the Philippines with the 125km-wide eye expected to make landfall on the country’s largest island, Luzon, on Saturday.

The Global Disaster Alert and co-ordination System (GDACS) said it expected a “high humanitarian impact based on the storm strength and the affected population in the past and forecasted path” of destruction. As many as 43 million people could be exposed to Mangkhut’s cyclonic winds, according to the GDACS. More than four million Filippinos are reportedly at risk of the storm which could drench areas as far south as the country’s island capital, Manila. Mr Browning said the super typhoon was then likely to continue tracking west to Hong Kong and southern China, jeopardising millions more lives, on Sunday and Monday.

‘THE BIGGEST KILLER OF ALL’

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center in Hawaii has categorised the system as a “super typhoon“ which Mr Browning said equates to “very destructive winds” and heavy rainfall that’s likely to cause infrastructure damage anywhere it hits.

“But the biggest killer of all with a system like this is typically the storm surge,” he said.

“The region close to the typhoon’s crossing can expect (to bare the brunt).”

With a 900km wide rain band - which is 50 per cent bigger than Haiyan’s - combined with seasonal monsoon rains, the typhoon could also set off landslides, according to forecasters.

Countries across east and southeast Asia are issuing emergency alerts and ordering evacuations as both Mangkhut and a second storm, Typhoon Barijat taunt the region.

Mangkhut is forecast to hit the northeastern Cagayan province of the Philippines, early on Saturday local time.

Office of Civil Defense chief Ricardo Jalad told an emergency meeting led by the Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte that about 4.2 million people in Cagayan, nearby Isabela province and outlying regions were vulnerable to the most destructive effects near the typhoon’s 125km-wide eye. Nearly 48,000 houses in those high-risk areas are made of light materials and vulnerable to Mangkhut’s ferocious winds.

Storm warnings have been raised in 25 provinces across the Philippines restricting air and sea travel. Schools have been closed and bulldozers are on standby in the event of landslides.

The military and police in Luzon have been placed on red alert — barring all troops from going on leave — so they can respond to emergencies in communities expected to bear the brunt of the typhoon.

Cagayan Governor Manuel Mamba told local media that this typhoon was “very different, this is more complicated because of possible storm surges”.

MEGACITIES IN PATH OF DESTRUCTION

The Hong Kong observatory’s tracking system shows a 70 per cent probability that Mangkhut could deviate within a 500km radius from its predicted position, causing uncertainty over the next few days. The observatory warned of rough seas and frequent heavy squalls, urging residents of the densely populated financial hub to “take suitable precautions and pay close attention to the latest information” on the storm.

Australian expat Alexis Galloway, who lives in Hong Kong, told news.com.au the government this morning “announced on the radio they are opening 47 emergency shelters once the T3 is raised”.

“This is the first time I’m actually quite nervous (about a typhoon) … we live right on the water too and 15 minutes from Shenzhen! Right in the thick (of it),” she said.

The system is already stronger than any of the 15 past severe or super typhoons that warranted the highest “No 10” warning sign, the South China Morning Post reports.

On the Chinese mainland, the three southern provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan are co-ordinating preparations, including suspending transport and moving people to shelter inland, the national meteorological agency reported. The area is home to a string of megacities and more than 100 million people. Guangdong, China’s manufacturing hub, has set up 3777 shelters, while more than 100,000 residents and tourists have been moved to safety or sent home. The province has recalled more than 36,000 fishing boats to port, while train services between the cities of Zhanjiang and Maoming have been suspended and all ferry services between the Guangdong and Hainan have been put on hold.

megan.palin@news.com.au | @Megan_Palin