Philippines bracing for ‘Fung-wong’

About 1m evacuated due to super typhoon

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Nearly a million people have been evacuated and floodwaters were rising in the Philippines yesterday before Typhoon Fung-wong’s expected late-night landfall on the east coast.

The super typhoon, which comes just days after another storm ravaged the country, was working its way west with winds of 185 kilometres per hour near the centre and gusts of up to 230 kph as of 1lam, the state weather service said.

With a radius spanning nearly the whole of the Philippines, Fung-wong was expected to bring wind and heavy rain to broad swathes of the archipelago nation, which last week saw more than 220 people killed by Typhoon Kalmaegi.

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