Typhoon Usagi made landfall on Thursday in northern Philippines, as authorities evacuated thousands of people in coastal areas of the archipelago, already hit by several recent cyclones.
Usagi made landfall in the city of Baggao, in the province of Cagayan, at 05:30 GMT, with winds of 175 km/h, reported the national meteorological service.
In the last three weeks, five storms have hit the country, leaving 159 dead and prompting the UN to request $32.9 million to assist the hardest-hit areas, reports Afp.
The meteorological agency initially raised the maximum alert level for the typhoon's arrival, but later downgraded it by one category when Usagi made landfall.
According to experts, the winds can cause "considerable damage to lightweight structures", moderate damage to facilities considered "low risk," and uproot trees in the next 12 hours.
The agency forecasts "intense to torrential rains" and potentially deadly waves of up to three meters for two days.
In Cagayan, authorities were doing their utmost on Thursday to evacuate residents in coastal areas and along riverbanks.
"Yesterday there were preventive evacuations. Now we are enforcing evacuations", said Edward Gaspar, a local emergency services official. Around 1,400 people are taking shelter in a gym, he added.
"There are many more evacuees in nearby towns, but we haven't had time to see them and register them yet," he added.
The head of the Civil Defense in the province, Rueli Rapsing, anticipated that around 40,000 people will go to shelters, a similar number to those evacuated before Typhoon Yinxing, which hit northern Cagayan earlier this month.
Following Usagi, it is expected that tropical storm Man-yi will reach the center of Luzon over the weekend, where Manila, the capital, is located.
A recent study showed that storms in the Asia-Pacific region are forming closer to the coasts, intensifying more rapidly, and lingering longer over land due to climate change.