Tens of thousands of people evacuated as typhoon approaches Philippines

Residents are being evacuated to safer grounds (Philippine Coast Guard via AP)

More than 150,000 people have been evacuated to safer areas in eastern provinces of the Philippines as a typhoon approached from the Pacific.

Authorities have warned of torrential rain, potentially destructive winds and storm surges of up to nearly 10 feet.

Typhoon Kalmaegi was forecast to hit land on Monday night or early Tuesday. It was last spotted about 59 miles south-east of the town of Guiuan in the province of Eastern Samar, with sustained winds of up to 87mph and gusts of up to 106mph.

It was expected to blow westwards overnight and on Tuesday and batter central island provinces, including Cebu, which is still recovering from a 6.9-magnitude earthquake that hit on September 30 and left at least 79 dead and displaced thousands of people after their houses collapsed or were severely damaged.

Residents are being evacuated as Typhoon Kalmaegi approaches (Philippine Coast Guard via AP)

Displaced residents staying in flimsy tents would be moved to sturdier shelters, the Office of Civil Defence said.

On the central Negros island, villagers were warned that heavy rain could cause volcanic mud flows on the Kanlaon volcano, which has been emitting plumes of ash and steam in recent months, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.

Kalmaegi, locally named Tino, was forecast to further strengthen over the Philippine Sea before possibly making landfall in Guiuan or nearby municipalities.

Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful tropical cyclones on record, slammed ashore into Guiuan in November 2013 then raked across the central Philippines, leaving more than 7,300 people dead or missing, flattening entire villages and sweeping scores of ships inland.

Haiyan demolished about a million houses and displaced more than four million people in one of the country’s poorest regions.

Nearly 156,000 people had been evacuated by nightfall in eastern and southern provinces, officials said. Disaster response agencies, including coastguard search and rescue units, have been put on alert.

Inter-island ferries and fishing boats were prohibited from venturing into increasingly rough seas, stranding more than 3,500 passengers and cargo lorry drivers in nearly 100 seaports, the coastguard said. A number of domestic flights were cancelled.

The Philippines is battered by about 20 typhoons and storms each year. It is often hit by earthquakes and has more than a dozen active volcanoes, making it one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.