Tourists and locals in the Philippine are living through a nightmare when Monster Typhoon Mangkhut also known as Ompong in the Philippines, made landfall at around 17:40 GMT on Friday (1:40am on Saturday, local time), according to the Philippine weather bureau, PAGASA.
The storm is on its way toward the Chinese Mainland and Hong Kong.
Mongkut has slammed into the northeastern tip of the Philippines, bringing torrential rains and battering winds that are expected to affect millions of people.
It’s the strongest typhoon this year when it hit the main island of Luzon in the pre-dawn darkness.
Power lines are down and some reports of injury are coming in.
The storm retained its ferocious strength on Friday, but gained speed while shifting towards a number of densely populated provinces, where a large evacuation was carried out earlier in the day.
The Hawaii-based Joint Typhoon Warning Center categorized Mangkhunt as a super typhoon with powerful winds and gusts equivalent to a category-5 Atlantic hurricane.
In comparison, Hurricane Florence, which is currently lashing the US East Coast, is classified as category-1 storm.
WHAT TO TAKE AWAY FROM THIS ARTICLE:
- The storm retained its ferocious strength on Friday, but gained speed while shifting towards a number of densely populated provinces, where a large evacuation was carried out earlier in the day.
- The Hawaii-based Joint Typhoon Warning Center categorized Mangkhunt as a super typhoon with powerful winds and gusts equivalent to a category-5 Atlantic hurricane.
- Tourists and locals in the Philippine are living through a nightmare when Monster Typhoon Mangkhut also known as Ompong in the Philippines, made landfall at around 17.
