DAPA, Philippines
\nThousands of people in the Philippines fled their homes and beachfront resorts as Super Typhoon Rai slammed into the country on Thursday, with a charity warning the storm could hit coastal communities \u201clike a freight train\u201d.
\nRai is the strongest storm to hit the disaster-prone archipelago this year. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 195-km an hour as it made landfall on the southern island of Siargao at 1:30 pm (0530 GMT), the state weather forecaster said.
\n\u201cThis monster storm is frightening and threatens to hit coastal communities like a freight train,\u201d said Alberto Bocanegra, head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in the Philippines.
\n\u201cWe are very concerned that climate change is making typhoons more ferocious and unpredictable.\u201d The weather bureau warned \u201cvery destructive\u201d winds could cause \u201cheavy to very heavy damage to structures and vegetation\u201d, along with widespread flooding and rain-induced landslides.
\n\u201cI\u2019m really afraid,\u201d said Nida Delito, 56, a restaurant owner on the central island province of Bohol, where the strong wind tore roofs off houses and uprooted trees. \u201cMany typhoons have passed here before and it was fine — this one is different,\u201d she told AFP.
\nMore than 90,000 people sought emergency shelter as the storm charged across the Pacific Ocean, disaster agencies said. Evacuations were still under way in areas in the typhoon\u2019s path.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DAPA, Philippines Thousands of people in the Philippines fled their homes and beachfront resorts as Super Typhoon Rai slammed into the country on Thursday, with a charity warning the storm could hit coastal communities \u201clike a freight train\u201d. Rai is the strongest storm to hit the disaster-prone archipelago this year. It was packing maximum sustained […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-233552","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n