Manila - Terrified residents on Tuesday fled their homes in the northern Philippines as authorities warned that a typhoon moving closer to the area has gained strength. Lieutenant Colonel Ernesto Torres, spokesman for the National Disaster Coordinating Council, said there was little resistance when local officials ordered pre-emptive evacuations in some of the threatened provinces of the storm-wracked Philippines.
"Pre-emptive evacuations in some areas have started," Torres said without giving an exact number of the evacuees. "We have not received any negative reports regarding the evacuations."
The weather bureau said Typhoon Lupit was packing maximum sustained winds of 195 per kilometres hour and gusts of up to 230 kph as it bore down on the northern Philippines.
It was forecast to make landfall in the northern province of Cagayan Thursday, the bureau said.
Nathaniel Cruz, chief weather forecaster, warned residents in dangerous areas along the seashore and landslide-prone mountain slopes to move to safer places.
"This typhoon will hit like a slingshot," he said. "They must evacuate now. They must go to safer places now when there is still enough time."
The weather bureau on Tuesday placed 12 provinces under storm warnings ahead of Lupit's landfall.
All these provinces were still recovering from Typhoon Parma, which hovered over the area for a week starting on October 3, killing 438 people and affecting 4.16 million more people.
Philippine relief officials have pre-positioned rescue teams and stocked up on food, medicine and other necessities in the typhoon-threatened provinces.
Before Parma, Tropical Storm Ketsana wreaked havoc on September 26, dumping record rainfall that flooded wide areas of Manila and outlying provinces.
Ketsana killed 420 people and affected 4.34 million.
Damage to infrastructure and agriculture caused by Ketsana and Parma were estimated at 27.73 billion pesos (593.79 million dollars).
