According to the Philippine weather service, the typhoon made landfall on the Philippines’ Calayan Island, part of the sparsely populated Babuyan chain, at 3:00 pm (0700 GMT).

As of 5:00 pm (0900 GMT), maximum sustained winds of 215 kilometres per hour (134 mph) were reported at the storm’s centre, with gusts reaching as high as 295 kph, the national weather service said.

Tirso Tugagao, a resident of Aparri, a coastal town in northern Cagayan province, said, “I woke up because of the strong wind. It was hitting the windows, and it sounded like a machine that was switched on.”

On Calayan Island, at the storm’s centre, information officer Herbert Singun said chunks of a school roof had been ripped off and landed on an evacuation centre about 30 metres (yards) away, leading to one minor injury.

Just over 10,000 Filipinos were evacuated across the country, with schools and government offices closed in the Manila region and across 29 other provinces.

Multiple other cities in Guangdong province announced classes and work would be cancelled, and public transportation would be suspended because of the typhoon.

Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific said it expected to cancel more than 500 flights as Ragasa threatened the financial hub.

In Taiwan, the state weather service predicted a chance of “extremely torrential rain” in the country’s east.

“Its storm radius is quite large, about 320 (kilometres). Although the typhoon’s centre is still some distance away, its wide, strong wind field and outer circulation are already affecting parts of Taiwan.”

James Wu, a local fire department officer, said that evacuations were ongoing in mountainous areas near Pingtung.

“What worries us more is that the damage could be similar to what happened during Typhoon Koinu two years ago,” he added, describing a storm that saw utility poles collapse and sheet-metal roofs sent flying into the air.

Philippine government weather specialist John Grender Almario said that “severe flooding and landslides” could be expected in the northern areas of the main island, Luzon.

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The threat of flooding from Ragasa comes just a day after thousands of Filipinos took to the streets to protest a growing corruption scandal involving flood control projects that were shabbily constructed or never completed.

The Philippines is the first major landmass facing the Pacific cyclone belt, and the archipelago is hit by an average of 20 storms and typhoons each year, putting millions of people in disaster-prone areas in a state of constant poverty.

Scientists warn that storms are becoming more powerful as the world warms due to the effects of human-driven climate change.

Source: Punch