Philippines braces for Typhoon Utor: 3,000 stranded

More than 3,000 passengers were stranded on piers in the northeastern Philippines Sunday, as a strong Pacific typhoon approached and prompted authorities to suspend ferry services and warn people to brace for possible flash floods and landslides.

Government forecasters told a televised news conference that Typhoon Utor, which winds of 150 kilometers per hour (93 miles per hour) and gusts up to 185 kph (115 mph), could gather strength over the Philippine Sea before it slams into northeastern Aurora province Monday.

Utor, the strongest typhoon to threaten to hit the country this year, was about 120 kilometers (75 miles) off northeast Catanduanes province by mid-day Sunday. It was blowing northwestward at 19 kph (12 mph), state forecaster Jori Loiz said.

At least 31 passenger and cargo ferries were not allowed to venture out in increasingly choppy seas from several northeastern provinces, stranding more than 3,400 passengers.

Authorities also stopped fishing boats from sailing and ordered fishermen already at sea to return to shore, Office of Civil Defense regional director Bernardo Alejandro IV said.

Utor is the 12th of about 20 storms and typhoons expected to lash the Philippines this year.

"Residents in low lying and mountainous areas... are alerted against possible flash floods and landslides," it stated in an advisory.

The bureau also warned seafarers to remain at port due to strong waves, as the police, military and emergency relief authorities were placed on high alert.

The Philippines is hit by about 20 storms and typhoons each year, some of them devastating.

Nearly 2,000 were killed or went missing in flash floods and landslides when Typhoon Bopha cut across the southern island of Mindanao in December last year.

About 850,000 people were also displaced, and many of them remain in temporary shelters months after the typhoon.

The Hong Kong Observatory had classified Utor as a "severe typhoon" on its website Sunday.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.