Typhoon Vongfong Bearing Down on Philippine Island of Luzon

(Bloomberg) -- Typhoon Vongfong, the Northern Hemisphere’s first named storm, is rapidly intensifying east of the Philippines, where it could clip parts of the island nation Thursday and Saturday, according to the U.S. Joint Typhoon Warning Center in Hawaii.

The storm, called Ambo in the Philippines, made landfall over San Policarpio town in Eastern Samar province in Visayas island at 12:15 p.m. local time on Thursday, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said on its Twitter account. The typhoon has hit the Philippines just as lockdowns in Manila and other parts of the country are set to ease.

Some 400,000 people are expected to flee landslide and flood-prone areas, online news ABS-CBN quoted a local disaster official as saying. Unused isolation facilities intended for Covid-19 patients will host residents who will be evacuated.

Vongfong was forecast to bring flooding rains and landslides, as well as damaging winds to parts of Samar provinces, Masbate, Sorsogon, Catanduanes, Albay, Camarines Sur, and the rest of Eastern Visayas, the weather agency warned. The typhoon has hit the Philippines just as lockdowns in Manila and other parts of the country are set to ease.

“It has been intensifying rapidly and that is never good,” said Bob Henson, a meteorologist with IBM Corp.’s Weather Underground. “There will be quite a bit of disruption and of course Covid complicates everything right now.”

Power Outages

Vongfong’s top winds could reach 132 miles (212 kilometers) per hour by U.S. measurements, which would make it equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, the typhoon-warning center said. Winds that strong will cause catastrophic damage, snapping trees, destroying roads and causing widespread power outages.

In addition, 10 to 20 inches (25 to 50 centimeters) of rain could trigger floods and mudslides, Henson said. The bright spot is that Manila will be about 100 miles from the center and, given the storm’s rotation, will probably be spared the worst.

Although storms can happen at any time in the western Pacific, it is unusual that there haven’t been any other named storms in the Northern Hemisphere so far this year, Henson said.

Meanwhile on the other side of the world, there’s a 70% chance a low-pressure system will develop and grow into the Atlantic’s first storm of the year, a full two weeks before the official start of the hurricane season there.

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