THE PHILIPPINES — MANILA, Philippines — On Thursday, tens of thousands of people were evacuated to emergency shelters in the Philippines’ southern and central regions as a major typhoon approached.
Following the discovery of the country’s first infections caused by the omicron version of the coronavirus, authorities struggled to keep individuals safely separated in evacuation centers.
Typhoon Rai was last tracked around 109 miles east of southern Surigao del Norte province, with sustained winds of 115 mph and gusts up to 143 mph, according to forecasters. It was travelling at 15 mph northwest. Forecasters said the typhoon, locally known as Odette, was anticipated to hit the Dinagat Islands in the southeast later in the day.
Several provinces in the south and center were under typhoon warnings. Due to the possibility of flash floods, landslides, and tidal surges along or near the typhoon’s course, residents were advised to stay away from coastal and low-lying villages, as well as other high-risk locations.
About 10,000 villages are in the forecast route of the typhoon, which has a 250-mile-wide rain band and is one of the strongest to hit the country this year, according to disaster-response officials.
The Philippine coast guard has declared high-risk areas off-limits to marine journeys, stranding roughly 4,000 passengers, ferry and cargo ship crews in dozens of southern and central ports. It stated that coast guard troops and boats were on standby. Hundreds of flights, largely domestic, have been canceled.
However, the discovery of omicron cases this week has sparked new fears, with the authorities urging people to avoid groups and get vaccinated as soon as possible.
Because of the approaching storm, Governor Ben Evardone of Eastern Samar province has halted vaccinations in his almost half-million-strong territory. More than 70% of residents in the region have received at least one Covid-19 vaccine, and Evardone is concerned about immunization delays because several vaccines held in Eastern Samar are about to expire.
Overcrowding is unavoidable, he said, amid the province’s limited number of evacuation facilities, where more than 32,000 people were evacuated as the storm approached.
“It will be extremely difficult to observe social distancing,” Evardone told The Associated Press. “What we do is group evacuees together by family.” As a precaution, we don’t mix diverse persons in the same place.”
Every year, the Philippines is hit by about 20 storms and typhoons. The archipelago is also part of the seismically active Pacific “Ring of Fire,” making it one of the world’s most disaster-prone nations.