A super typhoon has barreled into the southern part of the Philippines’ main island of Luzon on Sunday, bringing “catastrophic” violent winds and intense rain with two landfalls so far, the country’s weather bureau said.
Typhoon Goni is the strongest storm recorded anywhere in the world so far this year, and ahead of its landfall in the Philippines was gaining further strength with 225 kph (140 miles per hour) sustained winds and gusts of up to 310 kph (190 mph).
Overall up to 31 million people could be affected by the super typhoon, according to the Philippines’ National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.
Philippine authorities evacuated nearly one million people to safer ground as Goni, which is known locally as Rolly, approached the eastern provinces.
The Philippines weather bureau said “catastrophic violent winds and intense to torrential rainfall” were expected to prevail over Bicol provinces as well as portions of Quezon, Laguna and Batangas, south of the capital Manila.
The capital Manila is currently in the projected path of Goni, the 18th tropical storm in the country so far this year, with the weather bureau predicting “intense” rainfall and storm surges for the city.
Goni is one of the strongest typhoons to hit the Philippines since super typhoon Haiyan, which killed more than 6,300 people in 2013.
It is the 6th tropical storm to impact the Philippines since October 1.
A tropical storm is forming over the Philippine Sea and headed towards the north of the country, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).
Tropical Storm Atsani was still more than 1,200 km (745. 6 miles) east of the Philippines at 7 p. m. ET Saturday and substantially weaker than Goni, but PAGASA said it is likely to strengthen over Sunday and Monday.
