Thousands leave homes as typhoon hits Philippines

DAPA: Thousands of people in the Philippines fled their homes and beachfront resorts as Super Typhoon Rai pummelled the country on Thursday, with a charity warning the storm could hit coastal communities “like a freight train”. Rai is the strongest storm to hit the disaster-prone archipelago this year.

It was packing maximum sustained winds of 195 kilometres an hour as it made landfall on the southern island of Siargao at 1:30pm, the state weather forecaster said.

“This monster storm is frightening and threatens to hit coastal communities like a freight train,” said Alb­erto Bocanegra, head of the Inter­national Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in the Philippines.

“We are very concerned that climate change is making typhoons more ferocious and unpredictable.”