Typhoon Haima: Philippines on alert for one of strongest storms ever to hit Wednesday Oct 19,2016

Millions of people in the Philippines were on high alert on Wednesday Oct 19,2016  for one of the strongest typhoons to ever hit the country, with authorities warning of giant storm surges and destructive winds.

Super Typhoon Haima was forecast to hit remote communities in the north of the country about 11:00 pm (4pm BST) on Wednesday, bringing winds almost on a par with catastrophic Super Typhoon Haiyan that claimed more than 7350 lives in 2013

"It's not just heavy rain and strong winds that we are expecting. It's also floods, landslides and storm surges in coastal areas. Those in these areas, you are in danger. Find safer ground," Allan Tabel, chief of the interior ministry's disaster and information co-ordinating centre, told

The 800 kilometre-wide (500 miles) weather front would effect more than 10 million people across the northern parts of the Philippines' main island of Luzon, according to the government's disaster risk management agency

Typhoon Haima was approaching the Philippines with sustained winds of 225 kilometers an hour and gusts of 315 kilometers an hour, according to the state weather bureau.

Authorities warned coastal communities to expect storm surges of five metres (16 feet) or higher.
"It's already started. The wind is strong, the waves are big," said Julie Hermano, manager of a small resort in Santa Ana, a coastal town of about 30,000 people that is in the typhoon's path

The Philippine capital of Manila is about 450 kilometres south of where Haima is forecast to make landfall. Authorities said the city, with about 12 million people, was not expected to be badly hit, although there would be rain.

Typhoon Haima was forecast to leave the Philippines on Friday Oct 21,2016, then track towards southern China. Haima is the second typhoon to hit the northern Philippines in a week, after Sarika claimed at least one life and left three people missing.

Note

The Philippine islands are often the first major landmass to be hit by storms that generate over the Pacific Ocean.

The Southeast Asian archipelago endures about 20 major storms each year, many of them deadly.