Thousands evacuated in Philippines as Super Typhoon Ragasa nears land
President Ferdinand Marcos said on Facebook he was closely monitoring the situation and that all government agencies were "on alert".
A man walks along a road amid heavy rain due to weather patterns from Super Typhoon Ragasa in Lal-lo town, Cagayan province on Sep 22, 2025. Hundreds of families sheltered in schools and evacuation centres as heavy rains and gale-force winds from Super Typhoon Ragasa lashed the northern Philippines and southern Taiwan. (Photo: AFP/John Dimain)
MANILA: More than 10,000 evacuees sheltered in schools and evacuation centres in the Philippines on Monday (Sep 22) as heavy rains and gale-force winds from Super Typhoon Ragasa lashed the country's far north.
The typhoon, which is gaining strength as it proceeds on a collision course with southern China, was expected to make landfall over the Philippines' Babuyan Islands by around midday.
The sparsely populated islands lie about 740km south of Taiwan in the Luzon Strait.
As of 11am, maximum sustained winds of 215kmh were reported at the storm's centre, with gusts reaching up to 265kmh as it moved westward towards the Babuyans, the national weather service said.
"I woke up because of the strong wind. It was hitting the windows, and it sounded like a machine that was switched on," said Tirso Tugagao, a resident of Aparri, a coastal town in northern Cagayan province.
"I'm seeing from my house here that the high waves are crashing onto the shore," the 45-year-old teacher said. "I pray everyone will be safe."
Cagayan disaster chief Rueli Rapsing told AFP that his team was prepared for "the worst".
President Ferdinand Marcos said on Facebook he was closely monitoring the situation and that all government agencies were "on alert to give help anywhere and whenever needed".
In Taiwan, the weather service predicted a chance of "extremely torrential rain" in the east.
"Its storm radius is quite large, about 320 (kilometres). Although the typhoon's centre is still some distance away, its wide, strong wind field and outer circulation are already affecting parts of Taiwan."
James Wu, a local fire department officer, told AFP that evacuations were ongoing in mountainous areas near Pingtung.
"What worries us more is that the damage could be similar to what happened during Typhoon Koinu two years ago," he added, describing a storm that saw utility poles collapse and sheet-metal roofs sent flying into the air.
Schools and government offices were closed on Monday in the Manila region and across 29 Philippine provinces in anticipation of heavy rainfall.
Government weather specialist John Grender Almario said on Sunday that "severe flooding and landslides" could be expected in the northern areas of the main island Luzon.
The threat of flooding from Ragasa comes just a day after thousands of Filipinos took to the streets to protest a growing corruption scandal involving flood control projects that were shabbily constructed or never completed.
The Philippines is the first major landmass facing the Pacific cyclone belt, and the archipelago is hit by an average of 20 storms and typhoons each year, putting millions of people in disaster-prone areas in a state of constant poverty.
Scientists warn that storms are becoming more powerful as the world warms due to the effects of human-driven climate change.
Hong Kong International Airport will suspend all passenger flights for 36 hours from 8pm on Sep 23 to 8am on Sep 25, Qantas Airways said.
A spokesperson for Airport Authority Hong Kong said it is closely monitoring the developments regarding the super typhoon, named Ragasa, and has commenced preparations to deal with the storm. But it has not made an official announcement on the closure.
