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A super typhoon has made landfall in the Philippines. It could have a "potentially catastrophic" impact, the state weather forecaster warned, with millions of people at risk from storm surges. (Charism Sayat/AFP/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)
By Taylor Ward, Allison Chinchar, Mike Madrigal and Catherine Nicholls, CNN
(CNN) — A super typhoon barreled toward the Philippines’ largest island on Sunday, as more than half a million people sought shelter from the latest in a string of powerful storms to threaten the country.
Super Typhoon Man-yi, known locally as Pepito, made initial landfall on the coast of island province Catanduanes on Saturday night then churned through the sea toward the main island of Luzon’s coast. It’s expected to make a second landfall Sunday afternoon, according to the government’s meteorological agency PAGASA.
Man-yi is an unprecedented fourth typhoon to hit the Philippines in less than two weeks, according to a CNN analysis of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s historical hurricane database. The storm’s course is projected to be farther south than the previous three typhoons, thus impacting many more people.
PAGASA said Man-yi is expected to weaken significantly as it moves across Luzon, home to more than half the country’s population. But it still poses a “potentially dangerous and life threatening situation,” the agency warned on Sunday afternoon.
Man-yi has maximum sustained winds of 185 kilometers per hour (about 115 mph) near the center, and gusts of up to 230 kph (143 mph) according to PAGASA — the equivalent of a Category 3 hurricane.
The Philippines is struck by multiple storms annually, but the relentless pace of successive typhoons in the past month has complicated recovery efforts and thousands of people remain in evacuation shelters.
Typhoon Yinxing hit the northeastern Philippines last week, with winds equivalent to a Category 4 Atlantic hurricane. There were no casualties reported but the storm brought torrential rain, storm surges and landslides.
Ahead of Man-yi’s arrival, more than 500,000 people evacuated in Luzon’s Bicol region, a disaster official told DZRH radio, Reuters reported Saturday. This number is expected to rise.
At least 26,000 people in the Northern Samar province were evacuated on Friday and Saturday, according to the government-run Philippine News Agency (PNA).
A further 18,000 were preemptively evacuated from the Eastern Samar and Samar provinces, PNA reported, with patients and staff members of Eastern Samar’s Arteche District Hospital being evacuated to the area’s municipal hall.
Civil defense chief Ariel Nepomuceno told Reuters that no casualties were reported, though the typhoon’s strong winds damaged homes, schools and commercial buildings in Catanduanes.
Catanduanes Gov. Joseph Boboy Cua also posted on Facebook that while authorities were still assessing the damage, so far no casualties had been reported.
The storm is expected to bring several meters of potentially catastrophic storm surge, widespread damaging winds and power outages, severe flooding and landslides across a significant swath of eastern Luzon.
By Sunday night, it will exit through the other side of Luzon, departing the Philippines’ main islands, according to PAGASA.
Southeast Asia is already one of the most climate vulnerable regions of the world, experts warn, making it more susceptible to extreme weather like heat waves, storm surges and floods.
Ocean temperatures have been historically warm this year, and hotter oceans provide a huge source of energy for storms to strengthen and grow.
Warmer oceans are being supercharged by humans burning fossil fuels.They are also a major factor behind more significant storms appearing later in the year and scientists say this could become more commonplace in the future.
So far this year, the Philippine capital Manila and parts of Luzon have seen devastating flooding from Typhoon Gaemi in July. In September, the country was also hit by powerful Typhoon Yagi, which left dozens dead after sweeping across southern China and Southeast Asia.
This story has been updated with additional information. CNN’s Jessie Yeung, Helen Regan, Robert Shackelford and Yumi Asada contributed reporting.
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