Typhoon Usagi was barreling toward the Philippines on Thursday with the force of a Category 4 storm, as authorities warned that the storm could cause widespread flooding and landslides in the north of the country.
Usagi, called Ofel in the Philippines, is the fifth major storm to hit the country in the past three weeks. The other four -- Toraji, Trami, Yinxing and Kong-rey -- killed more than 100 people and caused destruction. This week, four tropical storms churned at once in and around the South China Sea and the North Pacific, the first time that had happened in the region in November since records began.
Usagi was forecast to make landfall in the north of Luzon, the most populous island in the Philippines, on Thursday afternoon.
The storm had maximum sustained winds of 150 mph on Thursday, according to the US Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center. A Category 4 hurricane in the Atlantic packs the same force. The national weather agency of the Philippines, PAGASA, said the storm could strengthen further.
More than 8 inches of rainfall was expected in the northeastern part of Luzon, PAGASA said. The service warned that Usagi could cause storm surge of up to 3 meters, or nearly 10 feet, in some areas.
After leaving the Philippines, the storm is forecast to head toward Taiwan, where the Central Weather Administration issued a sea typhoon warning Thursday morning.
The recent typhoons in the Philippines stretched its resources for disaster relief. The United Nations said this week that it had approved $3.5 million in humanitarian funds for U.N. agencies working in the country.
"Typhoons are overlapping," Gustavo Gonzalez, who coordinates U.N. humanitarian efforts in the Philippines, said in a statement. "As soon as communities attempt to recover from the shock, the next tropical storm is already hitting them again."
—International New York Times