MANILA: A super typhoon swept towards the northern Philippines on Tuesday (Jul 25), the country’s weather agency said, triggering evacuation orders for coastal communities expected to bear the brunt of the powerful storm.
Super Typhoon Doksuri was packing maximum sustained winds of 185kmh as it headed towards a group of three lightly populated islands off the northern tip of the main island of Luzon, the agency said.
The storm, which is called “Egay” in the Philippines, was expected to make landfall or pass very close to the Babuyan islands or northeastern Cagayan province by Wednesday afternoon, the agency said in its latest bulletin at 0000 GMT (8am, Singapore time).
It would then sweep across to Taiwan and eastern China.
The storm was expected to dump more than 200mm of rain on the islands and the northern portion of Cagayan, Apayao and Ilocos Norte provinces on Tuesday.
Three of the five Babuyan islands are inhabited, with a population of about 20,000 people.