Typhoon Noul bears down on the Philippines

Preparations are currently underway for the arrival of yet another tropical system in the Philippines. Typhoon Noul developed in the western Pacific last Saturday and is expected to reach Luzon this weekend.

Noul, which is known locally as Dodong in the Philippines, was located around 1000km to the southeast of Manila (480 km northeast of the town of Borongan in Eastern Samar province) early on Friday. The storm had sustained winds of 200kph with gusts nearer 185kph.

It is expected to strengthen further over the next 24 hours to around 220kph, gusting 270kph. This will make it equivalent to a category 4 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale, but there will be a slight weakening by the time it makes landfall in northeastern Luzon around 0000GMT Saturday into Sunday.

The storm is expected to hit Luzon’s Isabela-Cagayan provinces and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said that it is alerting regional and provincial authorities to make preparations. Evacuations are now underway along much of the northeast coast.

Noul will be the fourth typhoon to hit the Philippines this year, and is likely to bring flooding rains and large sees along with the damaging winds throughout the weekend.

After passing the Philippines, Typhoon Noul is forecast to head towards Taiwan followed by Japan.