Philippines: Megi typhoon travel alerts

(October 18, 2010)
Super typhoon Megi hits the northern Philippines this Monday. Megi packed sustained winds of 140 miles (225 kilometers) per hour and gusts of 162 mph (260 kph) as it made landfall midday Monday at Palanan Bay in northeastern Isabela province, and was losing some of its power while crossing the mountains of the main northern island of Luzon.

Megi was expected to move on later Monday toward southern China, which already has evacuated more than 100,000 people from villages because of earlier flooding, according to the China Meteorological Administration. Vietnam's central coast, where 21 people have died in floods, also prepared for another soaking.

With its ferocious wind and rainfall of 1.97 inches (50-60 millimeters) per hour, Megi was the most powerful typhoon to hit the Philippines in four years, government forecasters say.

Philippine weather officials issued the highest of a four-tier public storm alert for the two coastal provinces of Isabela and Cagayan and three mountain provinces where the typhoon is expected to pass before exiting into the South China Sea.

After super typhoon Megi hit Isabela province cutting off power and communications, forcing flight cancellations and putting the region's rice crop at risk, the Philippines declared a state of calamity in a northern province. Megi hit the province province at 11:25 a.m. (0325 GMT) and by early Monday evening was heading west-southwest across the north of the main island of Luzon with winds of 180 kph (110 mph) near the centre, forecasters said.