Typhoon Hanna enters PH area

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Typhoon Soudelor has entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) Wednesday morning, August 5, and has been given the code name Hanna, the state weather bureau said.

Hanna entered the PAR around 7 am Wednesday, and as of 10 am its center was located 1,380 kilometers east of Calayan, Cagayan, the state weather bureau PAGASA said.

The typhoon currently has maximum sustained winds of 195 kilometers per hour near the center, and gusts of up to 230 km/h. Within the typhoon’s 600 km diameter, rainfall will be moderate to heavy.

It is forecast to move towards the west-northwest, at a speed of 20 km/h, the bureau said.

There are currently no public storm warning signals hoisted in any part of the country.

No deaths have been attributed to Soudelor, but it left a trail of destruction across the Northern Marianas where acting governor Ralph Torres declared a “state of major disaster and significant emergency” after it struck late Sunday, August 2.

In Hagatna, on neighboring Guam, the weather service warned boats to stay away from exposed reefs and beaches because of “hazardous surf” and “life threatening” rip currents.

It was expected to be down to category 4 or 3 by the time it hit southern Japan, Taiwan and China from late Thursday, August 6.

Tropical typhoons and cyclones typically form in the western Pacific between May and October with Pam the most destructive so far this year.

In addition to the fatalities in Vanuatu, about 75,000 people needed emergency shelter after their homes were destroyed and almost all food crops were wiped out.

Typhoon Maysak slammed into the Federated States of Micronesia in late March killing at least 4 people and leaving more than 5,000 in need of food, shelter and other emergency assistance. – With reports from Agence France-Presse / Rappler.com