*Typhoon Megi would be felt on Sunday in the north of Luzon, a rice and corn growing area on the Philippines main island. Warnings were issued against sea travel and the government said Megi was expected to bring flash flooding, landslides and storm surges.
*Megi, about 570 km east of northern Luzon and moving at 24 kmh westward towards Cagayan province, had winds of 160 kmh near its centre and gusts nearing 200 kmh, government weather forecaster Anthony Lucero said on Sunday.
*'It is not likely to hit Metro Manila,' Mr Lucero told a news conference. '... But once it makes landfall, Metro Manila residents may feel its effects because it is expected to affect a large area.' Megi could still develop into a super typhoon category late on Sunday and could dump rains as heavy as typhoon Ketsana, which inundated 80 per cent of Manila in 2009, Lucero said.
*Tropical Storm Risk forecast Megi would be a category 5 super typhoon as it hit land. The typhoon, the 10th and strongest to hit the country this year, was expected to reach northern Luzon on Monday morning and head out to the South China Sea on Tuesday, moving towards China. -- REUTERS
*Megi, about 570 km east of northern Luzon and moving at 24 kmh westward towards Cagayan province, had winds of 160 kmh near its centre and gusts nearing 200 kmh, government weather forecaster Anthony Lucero said on Sunday.
*'It is not likely to hit Metro Manila,' Mr Lucero told a news conference. '... But once it makes landfall, Metro Manila residents may feel its effects because it is expected to affect a large area.' Megi could still develop into a super typhoon category late on Sunday and could dump rains as heavy as typhoon Ketsana, which inundated 80 per cent of Manila in 2009, Lucero said.
*Tropical Storm Risk forecast Megi would be a category 5 super typhoon as it hit land. The typhoon, the 10th and strongest to hit the country this year, was expected to reach northern Luzon on Monday morning and head out to the South China Sea on Tuesday, moving towards China. -- REUTERS
A Philippine weather forecaster monitors the path of typhoon Megi at the Pagasa weather forecasting centre at Manila's Quezon city in the Philippines. -- PHOTO: AP
MANILA - HUNDREDS of wary residents fled coastal villages as emergency officials prepared for a powerful typhoon roaring toward the northeastern Philippines on Sunday.
Typhoon Megi, the strongest of 10 storms so far to have affected the country this year, had sustained winds of 121 miles (195 kilometres) per hour and gusts of 142 mph (230 kph). Forecasters said it could hit Cagayan province on Monday morning.
Thousands of military reserve officers and volunteers were on stand by, along with helicopters, including six Chinooks that were committed by US troops holding war exercises with Filipino soldiers near Manila, said Benito Ramos, a top disaster-response official.
Rescue boats and thousands of food packs have been pre-positioned near vulnerable areas, he said, adding that schools along the typhoon's path would be closed.
The weather bureau has warned fishermen and travellers to stay out of harm's way. 'This is like preparing for war,' Ramos, a retired army general, told The Associated Press. 'We know the past lessons and we're aiming for zero casualties.' An angry President Benigno Aquino III fired the head of the weather bureau in July for failing to predict that a typhoon would hit Manila. More than 100 people were killed in Manila and outlying provinces by that storm.
Authorities planned to start evacuating residents on Sunday in and near areas where storm surges, flooding and landslides could happen. At least 700 moved out of their homes to safer ground Saturday in mountainous Isabela province, Ramos said. -- AP
