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More from NEWS.COM.AU:Philippine evacuees flee typhoon
From correspondents in Manila
November 24, 2007 07:48pm
THOUSANDS of people are pouring into evacuation shelters as Typhoon Mitag barrels down on the eastern Philippines.
Weather bureau head Nathaniel Cruz said Mitag had changed course early today and was heading towards the northern provinces of the main island of Luzon, away from the Bicol peninsula where tens of thousands had already been evacuated.
Packing winds of 175km/h with gusts of 210km/h, Mitag was 190km off the Bicol Peninsula, southern Luzon, and moving northwest at 11km/h.
Mr Cruz told local radio that on its present course Mitag is "expected to make landfall" late tomorrow, sparing Bicol from its full fury.
The Bicol Peninsula bore the brunt of Super Typhoon Durian last year which killed 1200 people and left 200,000 homeless.
Entire villages were obliterated and hundreds of people swept to their deaths in mudslides triggered by Durian, which blew away houses and uprooted trees as it slammed into the Bicol provinces.
"Mitag would likely slam into the sparsely populated northern Luzon provinces of Aurora and Isabela late tomorrow night before crossing the mountains and out into the South China Sea some time on Monday," Mr Cruz said.
Philippine President Gloria Arroyo met her disaster co-ordinating committee today for an update on the evacuation of people from areas likely to be affected by the typhoon.
She said the pre-emptive evacuation of 30,000 families from the Bicol Peninsula had been successful and now efforts were being concentrated on moving people from flood and landslide-prone areas in Isabela and Aurora.
Isabela governor Grace Padaca told Ms Arroyo that troops had begun arriving in the province to help relocate 54,000 people from villages in low-lying coastal areas expected to be in the path of the typhoon.
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Philippines hunkers down as typhoon nears
From correspondents in Manila
November 23, 2007 03:58pm
TYPHOON Mitag intensified as it churned towards the Philippines today, triggering mass evacuations, flight cancellations and heavy rains and flooding.
In the central Bicol region, Philippines' typhoon alley, people sought refuge in churches, schools and town halls as more than 50,000 people fled their homes ahead of the typhoon's expected arrival tomorrow.
Disaster officials said 200,000 people would be evacuated from Bicol, where volcanic mud can trigger lethal landslides.
Mitag is expected to cut through Bicol before passing north of Manila and into the South China Sea.
It is a category 2 typhoon with winds of 160km/h and gusts of up to 195km/h and is expected to intensify to a category 4 typhoon tomorrow.
About 50 sailors were missing in the South China Sea after a Philippine fishing boat capsized in rough waters near the Nansha Islands yesterday morning.
Nearly 30,000 people have already been affected by flooding from storm Hagibis, which hit the Philippines earlier this week killing 13 people and which is heading for southern Vietnam.
Eight domestic flights to and from the central Philippines were cancelled ahead of Mitag and over 800 passengers were stranded in Bicol after ships were barred from leaving port.
In Bulacan, a province north of Manila, about 40 houses were submerged after officials released water from the Angat Dam to prevent it overflowing.