Typhoon Goni: Philippines evacuates thousands as 2020’s worst storm set to hit

Goni will make landfall on Sunday as the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines since Haiyan that killed more than 6,300 people in 2013

Typhoon Molave last week killed at least 22 people in areas south of Manila, which is also in the projected path of Goni

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A motorcyclist traverses a flooded street in Pola, Oriental Mindoro province, on October 26, 2020. Photo: AFP

Published: 11:35am, 31 Oct 2020Updated: 7:00pm, 31 Oct 2020

Officials in the Philippines on Saturday ordered evacuation of thousands of residents in the southern part of the main Luzon island as a Category 5 storm that is the world’s strongest this year approaches the Southeast Asian nation.

Typhoon Goni, with 215kph sustained winds and gusts of up to 265kph, will make landfall on Sunday as the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines since Haiyan that killed more than 6,300 people in 2013.

Pre-emptive evacuations have started in coastal and landslide-prone communities in the provinces of Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur, while Albay provincial government would order residents in risky areas to leave their homes, Gremil Naz, a local disaster official, told DZBB radio station.

“The strength of this typhoon is no joke,” he said.

Residents wearing masks wade through a flooded road from Typhoon Molave in Pampanga province, northern Philippines. Photo: AP

Typhoon Molave last week killed 22 people, mostly through drowning in provinces south of the capital Manila, which is also in the projected path of Goni, the 18th tropical storm in the country.

Authorities are facing another hurdle as social distancing needs to be imposed in evacuation centres to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

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