Philippines on alert for strong typhoon

Philippine residents battened down the hatches as Typhoon Megi strengthened and appeared on track to hit the north of the country on Sunday.

President Benigno Aquino Saturday ordered relief goods and rescue equipment to be at the ready and billboards taken down to avoid possible harm when the typhoon starts affecting the north of the main island of Luzon.

"I ask our countrymen in affected areas to cooperate with their... provincial and national officials in ensuring orderly and efficient preparations are made," he said in a statement.
"We do not want to unduly alarm the public but there is nothing lost by being prepared."

He said hourly advisories would inform the public of expected rainfall levels and which areas would be evacuated if necessary.

Major international meteorological services said Megi was now a category 3 cyclone with maximum winds of 185km an hour. They said it it could become a category 4 by Sunday with 215km per hour peak winds.

The Philippines' state weather service, which uses more dated forecasting equipment, continues to describe it as a category 1 typhoon with maximum winds of 140km an hour.
All the weather services said the storm would make landfall on Monday, but that it could bring strong winds and heavy rain as early as Sunday morning.

Megi was 750km east of Luzon's northeast coast at 8pm (1200 GMT) on Saturday, the Philippine weather service said.

Aquino sacked the head of the state weather bureau in mid-July, accusing him of making a wrong forecast before Typhoon Conson unexpectedly struck Manila, killing several dozen people and blacking out much of Luzon for three days.

Tropical Storm Ketsana and Typhoon Parma struck Luzon within a week of each other in late September and early October last year, killing more than a thousand people.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.