Philippines halts rescue as huge new storm nears

MANILA: Rescue work was suspended and preemptive evacuations began on Saturday as Typhoon Fung-wong bore down on the Philippines, days after another storm killed at least 204 people. Fung-wong, expected to be a "super typhoon" before making landfall, bears a huge footprint, with a radius that could cover "almost the entire country," a government meteorologist said. "Apart from the strong winds, we can also expect heavy rains ... 200 millimetres (eight inches) or higher rainfall, which can cause widespread flooding, not just in low-lying areas," meteorologist Benison Estareja told a press briefing Saturday. "It's also possible that our major river basins will overflow."

As of 11 am, the typhoon was moving westward toward the Philippines' main island of Luzon, with wind speeds of 140 kilometres per hour and gusts of 170 kph. In coastal Aurora province, where Fung-wong is expected to make landfall by late Sunday or early Monday morning, rescuers were going door to door encouraging residents to head for higher ground. "We are preemptively evacuating people in areas that may be high-risk for flooding," provincial rescuer Elson Egargue said. — AFP