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Between 19 to 31 million people in the Philippines, about a quarter of the country's population, could be affected by Super Typhoon Goni, the country's disaster body said on Sunday.
"Our predictive analytics reflect between 19 million to 31 million individuals will possibly be affected by the storm based on the population count in the areas within the typhoon track," Mark Timbal, the spokesman of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) told reporters.
The latest data from the state weather bureau showed that Super Typhoon Goni, the strongest typhoon in the world this year, is packing maximum sustained winds of 225 km per hour near the center and gustiness of up to 310 km per hour.
Strong winds and heavy rainfall were experienced on Sunday morning, as Goni is moving west-southwestward at 25 km per hour.
Al Francis Bichara, governor of Albay province told local media that power supply and cellular signal in Albay have already been cut off due to the impact of the tropical cyclone.
He said the roofs of some evacuation centers in the province have been torn off due to the strong winds brought by the typhoon. Those staying in evacuation centers whose roofs have been removed will be transferred to other safe areas, he added.
Although social distancing has been instructed in evacuation centers to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Bichara did not think it can still be practiced.
Goni, which intensified into a super typhoon at 2 a.m. local time, slammed into Bato town in Catanduanes, an island province in the southeastern part of Luzon, at around 4:50 a.m local time.
Thousands of people have been evacuated from risky areas in Bicol region amid fears of widespread flooding, possible landslides, and storm surge of up to three meters.
The Philippine Coast Guard ordered dozens of ports closed, leaving travelers stranded. Airport authorities announced Saturday night that Manila's international airport will be shut down for 24 hours from 10 a.m. on Sunday.
Super Typhoon Goni, the 18th cyclone to hit the Philippines this year, will pass through Quezon province and the rest of the region south of Manila, possibly weakening as it travels close to the capital before heading into the South China Sea on Monday morning.
In Manila, officials ordered big roadside advertising boards taken down, fearing that strong winds could knock it down and injure people. Light trains in the capital have also been suspended.
Goni struck close to the regions hit by Typhoon Molave earlier this week, which killed 22 people and destroyed infrastructure and crops.
Typhoons and tropical storms regularly hit the Philippines from June through December, claiming hundreds of lives and causing billions of dollars in damages.
Typhoon Haiyan, one of the country's worst, killed more than 6,300 people in the central Philippines in November 2013. Thousands of residents in Tacloban, the capital of Leyte province, drowned in a "two-storey-high" storm surge, including people seeking safety in a sports stadium that served as a shelter.
Located in the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Philippines is among the most disaster-prone countries in the world, including active volcanoes, frequent earthquakes, and an average of 20 typhoons a year, causing floods and landslides.
The country lost 463 billion pesos (roughly 9.56 billion U.S. dollars) in damages to natural disasters from 2010 to 2019, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
