Philippines starts evacuations as typhoon approaches

The Philippines has begun evacuating thousands of people, local officials said Sunday, as a powerful typhoon rumbling in from the Pacific forced Southeast Asian Games organizers to cancel or reschedule some events.

Forecasters expect Typhoon Kammuri to make landfall Monday evening or Tuesday morning, packing gusts of 170 kilometers per hour and maximum sustained winds of 140 kph.

The storm entered Philippine territory Saturday evening, shortly before President Rodrigo Duterte and boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao launched the Games with a colorful opening ceremony.

This year's Games in Clark, Manila, and Subic, which run through to December 11, are already particularly complex with a record 56 sports across dozens of venues that are in some cases hours apart by car.

Outdoor events in Subic — on the west coast of the main Philippine island of Luzon in the country's north — were the first to be affected by Kammuri.

Some local government units in central Bicol region urged people to begin leaving their homes on Saturday night.

By Sunday afternoon, more than 3,000 people were in evacuation centers, mostly in schools and gymnasiums in Camarines Norte, the disaster management office of the province said.

Most of them live in coastal areas and low-lying places where flash floods and landslides are possible due to heavy rains that will be brought by the typhoon.

No mandatory evacuation has been ordered yet, the disaster management office said.

SS