Truemors
Typhoon Fengshen is continuing its destructive passage across the Philippines and is now on a crash course with the capital Manila. The storm is expected to near the city in the next 12 hours.
Typhoon Fengshen made landfall on the eastern Philippines province of Samar yesterday with winds over 80 miles per hour before intensifying further over the Visayas with winds gusting up to 150 miles per hour.
According to the Japanese Meteorological Agency, Fengshen has weakened slightly but still has sustained winds of 80 miles per hour.
According to the typhoon monitoring website, www.typhoon2000.ph, the Philippines government has issued storm warning 3 for Boracay, Lubang Islands, Mindoro, Romblon, Marinduque, Calamian group, Aklan and northern Antique and Capiz. Manila is currently under storm warning 2.
Xinhua news agency is reporting that at least 20 people have been killed so far and the toll is likely to rise as the typhoon strikes the heavily populated capital and surrounding areas.
Fengshen means god of wind in Chinese. The extended forecast track is highly uncertain and it appears that south China, Hong Kong and Macau could be at risk of a hit in 4 days.
Typhoons, known as hurricanes in the Americas, are vast storms often hundred of miles wide rotating around a centre of very low pressure. They regularly strike the coastal nations of East Asia bringing torrential rains, high winds and damaging storm surges.
For more information please visit the following monitoring and forecast websites:
www.typhoon2000.ph - Philippines typhoon monitoring website run by Michael Padua
http://www.jma.go.jp/en/typh/ - Official regional typhoon forecasting agency
http://metocph.nmci.navy.mil/jtwc.php - US military's Joint Typhoon Warning Centre
www.typhoonfury.com - For photos and film of previous high impact typhoons in the Pacific
I will provide regular updates as this situation develops.
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