Philippines cancels classes, flights as new storm looms

The Philippines shut schools and scrapped flights on Thursday as a fresh storm threatened to hit just days after a super typhoon killed nine people in the archipelago.

Severe Tropical Storm Bualoi is forecast to intensify into a typhoon on Friday and then slam into the southern end of the Philippines' largest island, Luzon.

"Widespread flooding and landslides in mountainous areas are possible," Benison Estareja from the nation's weather service told a briefing.

The Philippines is hit by an average of 20 storms and typhoons each year, putting millions of people in disaster-prone areas in a state of constant poverty.

Scientists warn that storms are becoming more powerful as the world warms due to the effects of human-driven climate change.

Authorities warned of a "high risk of life-threatening storm surge" of up to three metres (10 feet) with the coming storm.

The Philippine Coast Guard said around 1,500 people were stranded in ports of Bicol, the region where the typhoon is forecast to hit.

An elderly man is rescued on a stretcher after a barrier lake burst in Hualien, Taiwan. AFP

Thousands were also still displaced in the rain-soaked nation after Super Typhoon Ragasa passed over the country's far northern end and killed at least nine people.

The weather bureau said the outer bands of Bualoi might also bring rains to the northern Philippines.

"These rains are continuous and may cause renewed flooding, and landslides, especially in areas that are already saturated," Civil Defence Administrator Harold Cabreros said late on Wednesday.

Seven fishermen died during Ragasa when their boat was flipped over by huge waves in the far northern Cagayan Province, while one person was killed by a toppled tree.

A typhoon-triggered landslide also killed a 74-year-old man and injured at least seven people in Benguet, a mountainous province north of Manila.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos pledged late on  Wednesday that food, medicine and other aid was in position in areas where Bualoi is expected to pass.

The storms come as public anger seethes over a scandal involving bogus flood-control projects believed to have cost taxpayers billions of dollars.

Typhoon Ragasa, one of the strongest storms to hit Asia in years, whipped waves taller than lampposts onto Hong Kong promenades and turned seas rough on the southern Chinese coast on Wednesday after leaving deadly destruction in Taiwan and the Philippines.

In Taiwan, 17 people died after floods submerged roads and carried away vehicles in one county, and 10 deaths were reported in the northern Philippines.

Rescue teams work in mud-covered areas after flooding brought by Super Typhoon Ragasa in Hualien, Taiwan. Reuters

More than 2 million people were relocated across Guangdong province, the southern Chinese economic powerhouse, China's state-run Xinhua news agency said.

A weather station in Chuandao town recorded maximum gusts of 241 kph (about 150 mph) at noon, a high in Jiangmen city since record-keeping began. State broadcaster CCTV said the typhoon made landfall along the coast of Hailing Island in Yangjiang city at about 5 pm, packing maximum winds near the center of 144 kph (89 mph).

Violent winds battered trees and buildings, with torrential rain lowering visibility, video from Xinhua showed. The typhoon is forecast to keep moving west, prompting the suspension of some train services in the Gunagxi region on Thursday.

Chinese officials allocated tens of millions of dollars for relief efforts. Schools, factories and transportation services were initially suspended in about a dozen cities, but a few of them distant from the landfall location were preparing to resume work as winds weakened.

Agence France-Presse