TUGUEGARAO, Philippines — Typhoon “Ompong” (international name: Mangkhut) retained its ferocious strength and shifted slightly toward more densely populated coastal provinces on Friday as it barreled closer to the northeastern Philippines, where a massive evacuation was underway. ADVERTISEMENTMore than 5 million people are at risk from the storm, which the Hawaii-based Joint Typhoon Warning Center categorizes as a super typhoon with powerful winds and gusts equivalent to a category 5 Atlantic hurricane. A super typhoon wrought heavy damage to Banez’s hotel and the rest of Cagayan in 2016. Though it is likely to weaken from a super typhoon to a severe typhoon, it will still be packing sustained winds of 175 kph (109 mph), it said. “If it flattens everything, maybe we need to have some help.”Officials said other northern provinces had started evacuating residents from high-risk areas, including in northern mountain provinces prone to landslides.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer September 14, 2018 11:14 UTC