Thousands evacuated as typhoon bears down on Philippines

Thousands of people were evacuated Monday in the Philippines’ coastal provinces, before a typhoon made landfall in a region hit by some of the country’s deadliest storms.

Typhoon Kalmaegi is on a collision course with the island of Leyte, bringing winds of 120 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 150 km/h, according to the National Weather Service.

“Evacuations are underway in Palo and Tanauan,” said Leyte disaster official Roel Montesa, citing two of the towns hardest hit by storm surges in 2013, when super typhoon Haiyan killed more than 6,000 people.

Thousands of residents have also been evacuated since Sunday on the neighboring island of Samar, where floods of three meters are expected, according to civil protection official Randy Nicart.

“Some local authorities are resorting to forced evacuations, notably the town of Guiuan, where the storm is likely to make landfall,” he said.

The Philippines is hit by an average of 20 storms and typhoons each year, regularly hitting disaster-prone areas where millions of people live in poverty.

With Kalmaegi, the archipelago country has already reached this average, Charmaine Varilla, a specialist in state meteorological services, told AFP, adding that at least “three to five additional storms” could be expected by the end of December.

Just south of Leyte, in Dinagat Islands province, Governor Nilo Demerey said 10,000 to 15,000 people had been preemptively moved to safer areas.

“We have been carrying out preventive evacuations for two days, while there is time,” he told AFP.

Disaster official Joy Conales said residents in the town of Loreto in Dinagat had been ordered to evacuate to higher ground.

The city has a one-story “wavebreaker” seawall intended to protect its center from large waves.

Scientists warn that storms are becoming more powerful due to human-caused climate change.

Varilla said Tuesday that a higher number of cyclones typically accompany La Niña, a natural climate phenomenon that cools surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean.

The Philippines was hit by two major storms in September, including super typhoon Ragasa, which toppled trees and tore roofs off buildings, and killed 14 people in neighboring Taiwan.

© 2025 AFP