Typhoon Maysak churned towards the Philippines on Friday, with disaster officials warning of the potential for storm surges, flash floods and landslides, while urging people spending Easter by the coast to be particularly cautious.
Although the storm is expected to grow weaker as it approaches land, the government weather station said it was still packing typhoon-intensity winds of 150 kilometres per hour with gusts of 185 kilometres per hour.
“We don’t want our public to have a false sense of security. It is still packing strong winds,” the head of the civil defence office, Alexander Pama said.
The storm, which is moving at 15 kilometres per hour, is expected to hit the northern provinces of Isabela and Aurora on Sunday morning, Pama said.
Mina Marasigan, spokeswoman of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, said local governments in those areas had warned people to stay away from the sea, with the mayor in the popular beach resort town of Baler in Aurora province taking special precautions.
Millions of Filipinos have gone on holiday or returned to their hometowns for the Easter holidays.
Although the storm is expected to grow weaker as it approaches land, the government weather station said it was still packing typhoon-intensity winds of 150 kilometres per hour with gusts of 185 kilometres per hour.
“We don’t want our public to have a false sense of security. It is still packing strong winds,” the head of the civil defence office, Alexander Pama said.
The storm, which is moving at 15 kilometres per hour, is expected to hit the northern provinces of Isabela and Aurora on Sunday morning, Pama said.
Mina Marasigan, spokeswoman of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, said local governments in those areas had warned people to stay away from the sea, with the mayor in the popular beach resort town of Baler in Aurora province taking special precautions.
Millions of Filipinos have gone on holiday or returned to their hometowns for the Easter holidays.