Another typhoon hits Philippines displacing 25,000 villagers

Manila:The Mulavo typhoon has forced villagers to vacate to safe havens in the Philippines as rural villages were flooded and the typhoon caused landfall.

As the typhoon advanced in the Southeast Asian nation, authorities on Monday reported that seven people were rescued after a yacht sank off Batangas province south of Manila. However one person is still missing. No other reports of casualties have been reported as of now.

The typhoon, locally called as Quinta, dislocated at least 25,000 villagers in the Bicol region with about 20,000 taking shelter in evacuation centres, according to the Office of Civil Defense. Classes were suspended in the capital and in several provinces as schools and government buildings were turned into refugee centres.

According to PAGASA, the Philippine weather bureau, the typhoon will increase its intensity within 24 to 48 hours before exiting the country on Tuesday.The typhoon hit the villages with winds of 125 kilometres per hour (77 miles per hour) and squalls of up to 180 km/h (112mph).

The government said, storms are likely to complicate the nation's fight against the coronavirus as it will have to evacuate tens of thousands of people from typhoon-hit areas, as the country was slammed by central winds of up to 155 kph (96 mph) in May. About 20 cyclones and storms hit disaster-prone Philippines every year.