The Philippines on Wednesday braced for a powerful typhoon barreling toward provinces in the north and east, just days after another cyclone battered the same areas.
Authorities ordered the pre-emptive evacuations of thousands of residents living near rivers and mountains in the provinces of Cagayan and Ilocos Norte, which were expected to bear the brunt of Typhoon Haima.
Haima was packing maximum sustained winds of 220 kilometers per hour (kph) and gusts off up to 305 kph and moving west-northwest at 26 kph, the weather bureau said.
The typhoon was expected to intensify further before making landfall on Thursday morning over Cagayan.
The bureau warned that the typhoon could trigger storm surges as high as 5 meters.
Nearly 30 provinces and metropolitan Manila were placed on storm alert warning as high as number 4 the highest is number 5.
The national disaster risk management office said emergency teams had been put on alert, while relief packs, medicines and other supplies had been distributed near the affected areas.
An average of 20 typhoons batter the Philippines every year.
In 2013, Super Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful storms in the world to make landfall, killed more than 6,000 people and left more than a thousand missing in the eastern Philippines. (dpa/NAN)