Philippines evacuates thousands over Typhoon Noul

More than 1,000 people were evacuated from their homes as Typhoon Noul approached the northern Philippines, threatening flash floods, landslides and tsunami-like storm surges, government agencies warned on Sunday. The storm’s movement has slowed slightly, but it has also strengthened to pack gusts of 127 mph and is still expected to hit the northern edge of the main island of Luzon by Sunday afternoon or evening. Over 1,200 people have already been pre-emptively evacuated from the areas expected to be affected by Noul.

There are areas which can have landslides. There are areas which can have flash floods. There are coastal areas which can be hit by storm surges as high as 1.5 metres.

Mina Marasigan, spokeswoman for the government’s national disaster monitoring council

Storm surges — tsunami-like waves generated by powerful typhoons — have become a major concern during storms. In November 2013 storm surges were the main killers as Super Typhoon Haiyan ravaged the central Philippines, leaving more than 7,350 people dead or missing.

World typhoon Noul