Typhoon Mangkhut hits north Philippines, China
News & Trends •
read more18 typhoon mangkhut retained its ferocious strength and slightly shifted toward more densely populated coastal provinces on friday as it barreled closer to the northeastern philippines where a massive evacuation was underway1 more than 4 million people are at risk from the storm which the hawaii-based joint typhoon warning center categorizes as a super typhoon with powerful winds and gusts equivalent to a category 5 atlantic hurricane1 it was initially expected to hit the northern tip of cagayan province early saturday but its now likely to make landfall farther south and closer to isabela province then cut across the northern breadbasket philippine state forecaster chris perez told the associated press1 the change wont make much difference because of the typhoons massive size he said1 a huge raincloud band 900 kilometers 560 miles wide combined with seasonal monsoon rains means the typhoon will bring heavy to intense rains that could set off landslides and flash floods1 warnings have been raised in 25 provinces across the main northern island of luzon restricting sea and air travel1 the typhoon is approaching at the start of the rice and corn harvesting season in cagayan a major agricultural producer and farmers were scrambling to save what they could of their crops cagayan gov. manuel mamba said1 the threat to agriculture comes as the philippines tries to cope with rice shortages1 mangkhut was tracked on friday about 400 kilometers 250 miles away in the pacific with sustained winds of 205 kilometers 127 miles per hour and gusts of up to 255 kph 158 mph philippine forecasters said1