Mangkhut unleashes fury on Philippines as it heads to China

Bloomberg

Super Typhoon Mangkhut battered the Philippines with gales and torrential rains, leaving at least three people dead and thousands homeless, triggering landslides and damaging an airport before heading towards China.
The most powerful storm of the year ripped into Cagayan province in the northern Philippines with winds of up to 269 kilometres (167 miles) per hour. By US standards it was a Category 5 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, according to the US Navy and Air Force’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center in Hawaii. The storm is forecast to cross the South China Sea and strike Guangdong by Sunday.
If the typhoon stays on its course, Mangkhut could cause about $120 billion in damage in China and Hong Kong, said Chuck Watson, a disaster modeler with Enki Research in Savannah, Georgia. In the Philippines, economic losses could reach 6.6 percent of gross domestic product, or more than $20 billion, he said.
Philippine authorities are finding it difficult to reach areas hardest hit by the storm. At least five roads and bridges in the north of the country are impassable after landslides, while gales shattered windows and collapsed the ceiling of an airport in Cagayan province. Winds and rain are preventing government agencies from assessing the full extent of damage, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said in a televised news conference.
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi postponed his Sept. 16-18 visit to the Philippines in the aftermath of the storm.
The Southeast Asian nation’s foreign affairs department said it is now focused on coordinating offers of international humanitarian assistance.
Mangkhut, named after a Thai fruit, weakened after hitting land, with maximum sustained winds of 213 kilometres per hour, according to the JTWC. It’s expected to be 101 nautical miles from Hong Kong by midday local time on Sunday.
In the Philippines, at least three people died due to floods and landslides. Nearly 126,800 people fled their homes and many are staying in evacuation centers, authorities said. Almost 1 million people live in coastal areas, or have homes made of light materials, along the storm’s path, Edgar Posadas, spokesman of the disaster-monitoring agency, said earlier.
Authorities are releasing water from several dams, which is likely to flood more areas on the main Luzon island, the weather bureau said. Strong winds cut communication lines in the northern province of Cagayan, leaving far-flung areas where the typhoon made landfall out of touch with the government, Governor Manuel Mamba told CNN.
Manila Electric Co. said 430,000 customers in the capital region and nearby provinces are without electricity. Six transmission lines in Luzon were toppled by the storm. At least 128 local and international flights have been canceled, while 4,688 passengers are stranded in various seaports, the disaster risk monitoring agency said.

Travel Disrupted
Airlines cancelled more than 500 flights, disrupting travel from Hong Kong to Japan. Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. said in a statement it will ground 400 flights in the next three days. Its unit Cathay Dragon said it won’t be flying.
AirAsia Group Bhd had canceled at least 22 flights as of Saturday morning, upsetting travelers from Manila to Shenzhen and Macau, according to a Facebook post. Philippines Airlines Inc. scrapped 41 Saturday flights, including those to Hangzhou and Tokyo, it said on Facebook.
A Strong Wind Signal No. 3 is set to be issued later Saturday, according to the Hong Kong Observatory.
The advisory urges people to secure property and ships ahead of a storm with high winds.
There’s a chance Mangkhut will weaken as it approaches China, said Jeff Masters, a meteorologist with Weather Underground, an IBM company in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Storms lose strength when they cross land and it’s possible Mangkhut, after hitting the Philippines, won’t be able to recover.