Philippines evacuates one million, woman dead as super typhoon nears

MANILA,

More than a million people have been evacuated, and at least one person has died, as floodwaters rose in the Philippines on Sunday ahead of Typhoon Fung-wong’s expected landfall on the east coast.

The super typhoon, arriving just days after another storm devastated the country, is forecast to strike Aurora province between 8:00 pm and 11:00 pm, according to state weather forecaster Charmagne Varilla.

With a radius covering nearly the entire Philippines, Fung-wong is expected to bring strong winds and heavy rain to vast swathes of the archipelago, which last week saw over 220 fatalities from Typhoon Kalmaegi.

On Sunday, one of the already storm-hit provinces in central Philippines recorded the first known death from Fung-wong. Rescuer Juniel Tagarino in Catbalogan City told AFP that the body of a 64-year-old woman, who had attempted to evacuate, was recovered from beneath debris and fallen trees.

"Last night, the wind was so strong and the rain heavy… According to her family, she may have gone back inside her house to retrieve something," Tagarino said, adding that her relatives were just 50 metres away when they realised she was missing.

In Aurora, where the eye of the storm is expected to make landfall, government worker Aries Ora, 34, reported light rain as he boarded up his home in Dipaculao town with steel sheets and wooden boards.

"What really scares us is that the expected landfall is at night," he said. "Unlike previous typhoons, we won’t be able to clearly see the movement of the wind and what’s happening around us."

Schools and government offices have been ordered closed on Monday across the main island of Luzon, including the capital, Manila, where nearly 300 flights have been cancelled.

Earlier on Sunday, Catanduanes, a small island expected to take a “direct hit,” was already battered by wind and rain, with storm surges sending waves over streets and floodwaters rising in some areas.

"As we speak, they are feeling the impact of the typhoon, especially in Catanduanes, because the storm's eye is closest there," civil defence deputy administrator Rafaelito Alejandro said.

"The waves started roaring around 7:00 am. When the waves hit the seawall, it felt like the ground was shaking," Edson Casarino, 33, a resident of Virac town in Catanduanes, told AFP. Verified video footage showed a church surrounded by floodwaters halfway up its entrance.

Flooding was also reported in the Bicol region of southern Luzon, Alejandro said, confirming that nearly 1.2 million people had been evacuated nationwide. In Guinobatan, a town of about 80,000 in Albay province, video showed streets transformed into raging torrents of floodwater.

Typhoon Fung-wong is expected to deliver at least 200 millimetres (eight inches) of rain to many parts of the country, according to government meteorologists. Scientists warn that storms are becoming more powerful due to human-driven climate change, as warmer oceans allow typhoons to strengthen rapidly and a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, producing heavier rainfall.

On Saturday, residents in Catanduanes secured their homes by tying down roofs with ropes and adding weights to prevent them from being blown away. "They followed our tradition of anchoring the roofs to the ground so they won't be blown away by the wind," provincial rescue official Roberto Monterola said.

In Sorsogon, southern Luzon, some residents sought refuge in a church.

Only days earlier, Typhoon Kalmaegi had flooded towns and cities on Cebu and Negros islands, sweeping away cars, riverside homes, and large shipping containers. The typhoon, the deadliest of 2025 according to disaster database EM-DAT, killed at least 224 people and left 109 missing, as per updated government figures. Search and rescue operations in Cebu were suspended on Saturday due to safety concerns over the approaching super typhoon.