The Albany Gazette - Thousands flee as fourth major storm in a month hits Philippines

Typhoon Toraji hit near Dilasag town, about 220 kilometres (140 miles) northeast of the capital in the morning, the national weather agency said.

"We're getting hit with strong winds and heavy rain. Some trees are being toppled and power has been cut since yesterday," Merwina Pableo, civil defence chief of Dinalungan town near Dilasag, told AFP.

No casualties have been reported 11 hours after the typhoon ploughed through the mountainous interior of the main island of Luzon, provincial rescuers told AFP.

They said at least 8,000 people were moved from coastal areas as well as flood and landslide-prone areas in the provinces of Aurora, Isabela, Ifugao, and Mountain Province.

In all, the government ordered 2,500 villages to be evacuated on Sunday, though the national disaster office does not have the total number of evacuees as of Monday.

The typhoon weakened slightly as it hit the Luzon mountain ranges and was headed for Abra and Ilocos Sur provinces at 120 kilometres (75 miles) an hour before it is forecast to exit in the South China Sea overnight Monday, the national weather service said.

Landslides induced by heavy rain buried three key roads in the Cordillera mountain range, a civil defence official told AFP.

A passenger ferry ran aground in rough seas off the central island of Romblon but the 156 passengers and 38 crew members were rescued unharmed, the coast guard said.

The national weather agency had warned of severe winds and "intense to torrential" rainfall exceeding 200 millimetres (eight inches) over a 24-hour period across the north of the country.

In the landfall area of Dilasag, school teacher Glenn Balanag, 31, filmed the onslaught of the howling 130 kilometres (80 miles) an hour winds, which violently shook coconut trees around his rural home.

"Big trees are falling and we heard the roofs of some houses were damaged. The rain is continuing and a river nearby is rising," he told AFP.

- Stranded -

There was also a "moderate to high risk of a storm surge" -- giant waves up to three metres (10 feet) high on the north coast until Tuesday, it added.

Schools and government offices were shut in areas expected to be hit hardest by the latest typhoon.

Nearly 700 passengers were stranded at ports on or near the typhoon's path, according to a coast guard tally on Monday, with the weather service warning that "sea travel is risky for all types or tonnage of vessels".

Aurora provincial disaster response chief Elson Egargue told AFP he pushed out crews to clear roads after Toraji left the province in the early afternoon.

After Toraji, a tropical depression could also potentially strike the region as early as Thursday night, weather forecaster Veronica Torres told AFP.

Tropical Storm Man-yi, currently east of Guam, may also threaten the Philippines next week, she added.

Toraji came on the heels of three cyclones in less than a month that killed 159 people.

On Thursday, Typhoon Yinxing slammed into the country's north coast, damaging houses and buildings.

A 12-year-old girl was crushed to death in one incident.

Before that, Severe Tropical Storm Trami and Super Typhoon Kong-rey together left 158 people dead, the national disaster agency said, with most of that tally attributed to Trami.

About 20 big storms and typhoons hit the archipelago nation or its surrounding waters each year.

A recent study showed that storms in the Asia-Pacific region are increasingly forming closer to coastlines, intensifying more rapidly and lasting longer over land due to climate change.

(T.Martin--TAG)