Super Typhoon Man-yi fells power lines, causes tidal surges in Philippines

The storm is expected to make second landfall in the northern Aurora province as tens of thousands are displaced.

Super Typhoon Man-yi has uprooted trees, bringing down power lines and triggering tidal surges as it threatens to make its second landfall on the northeastern Philippine coast – the sixth major storm to hit the country in less than a month.

As of 2pm (06:00 GMT) on Sunday, Man-yi was approaching the northern province of Aurora with maximum sustained winds of up to 185km/h (115mph), according to the national weather agency PAGASA. Its gustiness slightly eased from 255km/h (158mph) to 230km/h (143mph).

Images posted on social media by various Philippine TV outlets on Sunday showed large waves lashing the coast of Aurora amid howling winds and heavy rain. PAGASA also continued to warn of a “potentially dangerous and life-threatening” situation as Man-yi moves closer to land.

Man-yi is the 16th typhoon to hit the Philippines in 2024.

On Saturday night, it slammed into the eastern island province of Catanduanes in central Philippines with sustained winds of up to 195km/h (125mph).

As of Sunday afternoon, there were no immediate reports of casualties from the typhoon, but it left Catanduanes with no power after it knocked down trees and electricity posts.

“The rain was minimal, but the wind was very strong and had this eerie howling sound,” Roberto Monterola, a disaster-mitigation officer in Catanduanes, told The Associated Press news agency.

“Along a main boulevard here, the tidal surges went up to more than 7 metres (23 feet) near the seaside houses. It looked really scary.”

Nearly half of the island province’s 80,000 people were sheltering in evacuation centres in advance of Man-yi’s landfall.

In the northern Philippines, more than 750,000 people took refuge in emergency shelters, including churches and a shopping mall, due to Man-yi and two previous storms, according to civil defence official Cesar Idio.

The rare number of back-to-back storms and typhoons that lashed Luzon in just three weeks killed more than 160 people, affected nine million and caused such extensive damage to residential communities, infrastructure and farmlands that the Philippines may have to import more rice, a staple food for most Filipinos.

In an emergency meeting as Man-yi approached, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr asked his cabinet and provincial officials to brace for “the worst-case scenario”.

Gopal Mukherjee, the Red Cross Philippines programme coordinator, told Al Jazeera that thousands of volunteers were activated across the country before the storm.

“They have been trying to assist their neighbours and their communities, as well as the local government,” he said. “We are also trying to provide support in the evacuation centres in terms of non-food items, like mats, blankets and kitchen utensils.”

Before Man-yi’s landfall, at least 26 domestic airports and two international airports were briefly shut and inter-island ferry and cargo services were suspended due to rough seas, stranding thousands of passengers and commuters, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines and the Philippine Coast Guard. On average, the Philippines is battered by about 20 typhoons and storms each year.