Evacuations in Philippines, Taiwan as super typhoon nears

The Philippines and Taiwan ordered evacuations on Sunday ahead of possible flooding and landslides as Super Typhoon Ragasa approached, gaining strength on its way to an eventual collision with southern China.

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The storm was undergoing "rapid intensification" and expected to make landfall on the sparsely populated Batanes or Babuyan islands by Tuesday afternoon, the Philippine weather agency said.

Maximum sustained winds were 185 kilometres per hour at the storm's centre as of 11 am (0300 GMT), with gusts reaching up to 230 kph as it moved westward toward the archipelago nation, the weather service said.