Typhoon and active volcano force evacuations in Philippines

© EPA
A handout photograph provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows Typhoon Noul over the West Pacific, east of the Philippines on May 6, 2015. The Philippines is preparing to evacuate residents along its northeastern coast as a typhoon approaches, as well as those near a rumbling volcano that has been spewing steam and ash over a central province, officials said on Friday

    

The Philippines is preparing to evacuate residents along its northeastern coast as a typhoon approaches, as well as those near a rumbling volcano that has been spewing steam and ash over a central province, officials said on Friday.

Typhoon Noul was about 480 km (300 miles) northeast of the town of Borongan in Eastern Samar province early on Friday, with wind gusts of up to 185 km per hour (115 mph), and was expected to make landfall as a category four storm at the weekend.

Thousands of passengers have already been stranded in seaports along the central and eastern Philippines after authorities stopped vessels from sailing because of rough seas.

The typhoon, the fourth to hit the Southeast Asian country this year, was expected to bring heavy to intense rainfall when it makes landfall in the northeast, the weather bureau said. It was then expected to weaken as it swung northeast towards the Japanese island of Okinawa by Tuesday.

Officials warned that heavy rain from the typhoon could cause "lahar", or flows of mud and debris, around Mount Bulusan, a volcano that has been spewing ash this week.

"There could be lahar flow, mudslides, that could sweep away houses in the area if there is heavy rain ... that is the danger," Esperanza Cayanan, division head at the weather bureau, told a briefing at the national disaster agency.

Fritzie Michelena, a disaster official in Irosin in central Sorsogon province where the volcano is located, said the municipality was getting ready to evacuate residents.

Bulusan volcano as seen from a highway in Irosin town, Sorsogon province, south of Manila today, two days after it spewed ash. – AFP pic, May 8, 2015.

    

"We will do pre-emptive evacuations because it might be difficult to get people out if we do it later," she said in an interview with the ANC news network.

Officials have designated schools and gymnasiums as possible shelters.

Typhoon Noul was also expected to trigger landslides and flash floods, with government officials alerting regional offices along the storm's projected path by text, email and phone calls.

Richard Gordon, chairman of Philippine Red Cross, said responders had learned a lot from Typhoon Haiyan, which struck the central Philippines in 2013, leaving more than 8,000 people dead or injured and about a million homeless.

"We have learned to prepare better, pre-positioning relief goods and emergency equipment to respond faster," he said.

An average of 20 typhoons cross the Philippines annually