Super typhoon weakens after entering Philippines

Super typhoon weakens after entering Philippines

Tourists urged to take precautions

Filipino children frolic as an airplane flies over at a coastal village in the town of Bacoor, Cavite province on Thursday. The state weather bureau issued the alert for Typhoon Maysak as it enters towards the country ahead of Easter holidays. (EPA photo)
Filipino children frolic as an airplane flies over at a coastal village in the town of Bacoor, Cavite province on Thursday. The state weather bureau issued the alert for Typhoon Maysak as it enters towards the country ahead of Easter holidays. (EPA photo)

MANILA — A super typhoon blamed for the deaths of at least four people on islands in the western Pacific Ocean has weakened after reaching Philippine waters and is expected to further lose strength as it approaches the country's northeastern coast, officials said Thursday.

Esperanza Cayanan, an officer of the government's weather bureau, said as of Thursday morning Typhoon Maysak was 915 kilometres northeast of eastern Borongan city, packing winds of 175 kilometres per hour and gusts of up to 210 kph. It is moving northwest at 19 kph.

Officials said they had readied rescue teams and relief goods to prepare for Maysak's landfall Saturday evening or early Sunday in northeastern Aurora or Isabela provinces and warned tourists headed to beaches for the Easter holidays to exercise caution.

Storm surges of up to 3 metres tall are possible in the eastern coast, while moderate to heavy rains are expected within a 200-kilometre radius from the typhoon's eye.

The weather bureau is set to issue a low-level storm warning later Thursday for the eastern provinces, which will suspend sea travel. The military went on alert Wednesday in the northern Philippines.

Cayanan said the storm was expected to weaken further after making landfall, and that it was possible it would be downgraded to a storm or tropical depression as it crosses land.

The typhoon threatens holiday plans in the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines, where Filipinos travel to their home provinces and to resorts.

The Philippines is urging tourists to take precautions or cut short Easter vacations, and may evacuate thousands of people in the path of approaching Maysak.

The surfing province of Baler, which is forecast to host 10,000 visitors this Easter, is among coastal areas at risk from gusts, said Alexander Pama, undersecretary of the civil defence agency.


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