Typhoon Ofel (international name: Usagi) slammed into the Philippines' already disaster-ravaged north on Thursday, as authorities rushed to evacuate thousands of people from coastal areas.

Typhoon Ofel 14112024

Agence France-Presse

<div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1731572817355Typhoon-Ofel-14112024.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="&gt;&gt; PUBS, MOVE TO TOP-TOP TILE 1  &gt;&gt; EMBED ATTACHED, CROP FOR THUMB  &gt;&gt; CAPTION: Authorities undertake preemptive evacuations in communities in Solana, Cagayan because of flood threat from typhoon Ofel. Office of Civil Defense-Region 2/handout"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left"><span id="isPasted" style="color:rgb(51, 51, 51);letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;display:inline !important;float:none">Authorities undertake preemptive evacuations in communities in Solana, Cagayan because of flood threat from typhoon Ofel.<em> Office of Civil Defense-Region 2/handout</em></span><em> </em></span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><div><br/></div><p>Typhoon Ofel (international name: Usagi) slammed into the Philippines&#x27; already disaster-ravaged north on Thursday, as authorities rushed to evacuate thousands of people from coastal areas.</p><p>Usagi made landfall in the town of Baggao in Cagayan province at 0530 GMT with winds of 175 kilometers (109 miles) an hour, the national weather service said -- the fifth storm to strike the country in just three weeks.</p><p>The brutal wave of weather disasters has already killed 159 people and prompted the United Nations to request $32.9 million in aid for the worst-affected regions.</p><p>The national weather agency had initially raised its highest storm alert, but downgraded to its second-highest as Ofel made landfall.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/11/14/ofel-slams-into-cagayan-weakens-into-a-typhoon-1454" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ofel slams into Cagayan, weakens into a typhoon</a></div><p>It said the winds could cause &quot;considerable damage to structures of light materials&quot;, moderate damage even to structures otherwise considered &quot;low-risk&quot;, and uproot large trees within the next 12 hours.</p><p>&quot;Intense to torrential rain&quot; and potentially &quot;life-threatening&quot; coastal waves of up to three meters (nine feet) were also forecast over two days.</p><p>President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., visiting storm-affected areas to dole out emergency cash assistance, urged residents to comply with evacuation orders.</p><p>&quot;We know that it is difficult to leave your homes and possessions, but sheltering could save lives,&quot; he told residents of Mindoro island south of the capital Manila, according to an official transcript of his speech.</p><p>&quot;While we cannot prevent typhoons from hitting the country, we can take steps to reduce their impact,&quot; he said, calling for better infrastructure to cope with worsening storm effects he blamed on climate change.</p><div><strong>- &#x27;Forced evacuations&#x27; -</strong></div><p>In Cagayan, officials worked in driving rain Thursday to evacuate residents along the coasts and on the banks of already swollen rivers.</p><p>&quot;Yesterday it was preemptive evacuations. Now we&#x27;re doing forced evacuations,&quot; local disaster official Edward Gaspar told AFP by phone hours before landfall, adding 1,404 residents were sheltering at a municipal gym.</p><p>&quot;There are many more evacuees in nearby villages but we haven&#x27;t had time to visit and count them,&quot; he added.</p><p>Cagayan&#x27;s civil defense chief Rueli Rapsing said he expected local governments to take 40,000 people to shelters, roughly the same number that were preemptively evacuated ahead of Typhoon Marce (international name: Yinxing), which struck Cagayan&#x27;s north coast earlier this month.</p><p>More than 5,000 Cagayan residents were still in shelters following the previous storms because the Cagayan river, the country&#x27;s largest, remained swollen from heavy rain that fell in several provinces upstream.</p><p>&quot;We expect this situation to persist over the next few days&quot; as Usagi brings more rain, Rapsing told AFP.</p><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SUrjhLGjITs??si=CkmYjP5DOaruQ2SI&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><div><strong>- Overlapping typhoons -</strong></div><p>After Ofel, Tropical Storm Pepito (international name: Man-yi) is also forecast to strike the Philippines&#x27; population heartland around Manila this weekend.</p><p>A high-pressure area in southern Japan will cause the storm to follow a more southerly track than Usagi, the weather service said.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/11/11/nika-ofel-pepito-3-cyclones-may-slice-through-philippine-area-this-week-pagasa-1450">Nika, Ofel, Pepito: 3 cyclones may slice through Philippines this week - PAGASA</a></div><p>&quot;Typhoons are overlapping. As soon as communities attempt to recover from the shock, the next tropical storm is already hitting them again,&quot; UN Philippines Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Gustavo Gonzalez said.</p><p>&quot;In this context, the response capacity gets exhausted and budgets depleted.&quot;</p><p>A UN assessment of the past month&#x27;s weather disasters said 207,000 houses had been damaged or destroyed, and nearly 700,000 people were seeking temporary shelter.</p><p>Many families were without even essentials like sleeping mats, hygiene kits, and cooking supplies, and had limited access to safe drinking water, it said.</p><p>The storms destroyed thousands of hectares of farmland and persistent flooding is likely to delay replanting efforts and worsen food supply problems, the report added.</p><p>About 20 big storms and typhoons hit the archipelago nation or its surrounding waters each year, killing scores of people and keeping millions in enduring poverty.</p><p>A recent study showed that storms in the Asia-Pacific region are increasingly forming closer to coastlines, intensifying more rapidly and lasting longer over land due to climate change.</p><div><br/></div>

<p>Typhoon Ofel (international name: Usagi) slammed into the Philippines' already disaster-ravaged north on Thursday, as authorities rushed to evacuate thousands of people from coastal areas.</p>

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Thousands flee as Typhoon Ofel hits northern Philippines

Agence France-Presse

Published Nov 14, 2024 04:28 PM PHT

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