Residents evacuate as coastal flooding hits the Philippines
Residents along the Pacific seaboard of the Philippines evacuated their homes on Saturday after Tropical Storm Fengshen made landfall, prompting warnings of coastal flooding.
The Philippines authorities said there are no immediate reports of serious damage or casualties, with evacuations already carried out in hazard-prone areas and low-lying communities, News.Az reports citing foreign media.
The storm had barrelled into the municipality of Gubat at the southeastern tip of the main island of Luzon late afternoon, with gusts of up to 80 kilometres (50 miles) an hour.
Fengshen will likely intensify before making a second landfall in central Luzon on Sunday, the weather office said.
About 27,000 residents of the province of Albay and nearby Catanduanes island moved to safer ground, and the evacuations are a well-rehearsed routine in a region that is often the first major landmass struck by cyclones, local disaster officials said.
The Philippines is hit by around 20 storms and typhoons each year, which routinely strike areas where millions of people live in poverty.
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