More than 10,000 people sheltered in schools and evacuation centres in the Philippines on Monday as heavy rains and gale-force winds from Super Typhoon Ragasa lashed the country’s far north.
The typhoon, which is gaining strength as it proceeds on a collision course with southern China , is expected to make landfall over the Philippines’ Babuyan Island.
The sparsely populated islands lie about 740km (460 miles) south of Taiwan , where smaller-scale evacuations were also under way.
As of 11am, maximum sustained winds of 215 km/h (134mph) were reported at the storm’s center, with gusts reaching up to 265km/h (165mph) as it moved westward towards the Babuyans, the national weather service said.
“I woke up because of the strong wind. It was hitting the windows, and it sounded like a machine that was switched on,” said Tirso Tugagao, a resident of Aparri, a coastal town in northern Cagayan province.
“I’m seeing from my house here that the high waves are crashing onto the shore,” the 45-year-old teacher said. “I pray everyone will be safe.”