Philippines shuts schools, scraps flights as Typhoon Co-May nears
Last updated: July 25, 2025 | 17:33
A boy is carried along a flooded road as Typhoon Co-may intensified seasonal monsoon rains at Malabon city, Philippines, on Friday. AP
A woman carrying a baby wades through a flooded area in Manila North Road following heavy rains brought by Typhoon Co-may in Minalin, Pampanga, Philippines, July 25, 2025. REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Maica Mendoza, 25, streams herself online, demonstrating the features of the waders she sells from a TikTok-based shop, while partially submerged in floodwater at a village inundated by high tide, and flooding brought by monsoon rains and Typhoon Co-may, in Calumpit, Bulacan, Philippines, July 25, 2025. REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez
People sit on the roof of a submerged home at a village inundated by high tide, and flooding brought by monsoon rains and Typhoon Co-may, in Calumpit, Bulacan, Philippines, July 25, 2025. REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
A puppy is carried by a man after being rescued from a flooded home as Typhoon Co-may intensified seasonal monsoon rains at Malabon city, Philippines on Friday, July 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Residents ride a cart along a flooded road as Typhoon Co-may intensified seasonal monsoon rains at Malabon city, Philippines on Friday, July 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Residents wade along a flooded road as intense rains continue due to the southwest monsoon at Malabon city, Philippines on Thursday, July 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
The Philippines shut down schools and cancelled flights as typhoon-driven rains pounded the northern island of Luzon, a situation President Ferdinand Marcos called "the new normal."
Typhoon Co-May, upgraded from a tropical storm overnight, follows days of monsoon rains that have killed at least 19 people and left another 11 missing across the archipelago since July 18, according to the national disaster agency.
With maximum sustained winds of 120 kilometres (75 miles) per hour, the typhoon was expected to make landfall on the west coast in either La Union or Ilocos Sur province by Friday morning, the country's weather service said, according to AFP.
Children sitting in a basin react as they are pulled through a flooded area on Manila North Road following heavy rains. Reuters
Marcos said that climate change meant Filipinos needed to be thinking about how to adapt to a "new normal."
Around 70 domestic and international flights in the Philippines were cancelled Thursday due to the storms, the civil aviation authority said.
The government later announced that classes across Luzon would remain suspended through Friday.
Tens of thousands were evacuated across Manila earlier this week by floodwaters that swamped some neighbourhoods in waist-deep water and left residents of nearby provinces stranded and in need of rescue by boat.