Super Typhoon Ragasa pummels northern Philippines, triggering regional alerts

MANILA - Super Typhoon Ragasa churned off the northern Philippines with tree-snapping winds and heavy rain on Sept 22, setting off storm alerts across East and Southeast Asia.

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Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr ordered the disaster response agency to go on full alert and mobilise all government agencies, as more than 10,000 evacuees sheltered in schools and evacuation centres in the country.

Ragasa, which is gaining strength as it proceeds on a collision course with southern China, made landfall in Calayan island in Cagayan province, raising the risk of storm surges exceeding 3m.

The sparsely populated islands lie about 740km south of Taiwan, where smaller-scale evacuations were also under way.

The powerful storm is packing maximum sustained winds of 230kmh, according to the Hong Kong Observatory, equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale.

The Philippines warned of “imminent” life-threatening conditions.

Video clips shared by disaster agencies showed the northern Cagayan province being pummelled by fierce winds and heavy rain, triggering strong waves and sending trees swaying violently.