Typhoon Changes Course, from Philippines, Saipan to Taiwan
Within just eight days, Philippines braces for a second consecutive typhoon even as the storm storms debilitated only hours before it was expected to hit land.
Nevertheless, the good news for Filipinos turned a bad new for Taiwan, which issued a storm alert and started evacuating villages situated in the south as Typhoon Parma was sharply on its course north toward the islands.
It should be noted that Parma, though not hitting, has brought heavy rains across the Philippines’ main island of Luzon on Saturday, which also included regions which are still making recovery from a September 26 storm that flooded large parts of Manila and killed almost 300 people.
Nathaniel Cruz, chief government forecaster, was quoted as saying in media reports that the storm was, however, pushed farther north overnight on Friday, ending all risk of a new deluge in Manil,
In Saipan, residents of the Northern Mariana Islands, east of the Philippines, braced themselves on Saturday as another typhoon, Melor, churned across the Western Pacific.
Charles Reyes, Northern Marianas Governor Benigno Fitial’s press secretary, said that most businesses were closed on Saturday and Saipan residents not living in concrete homes had moved to typhoon shelters.
According to weather service, the storm was expected to make its closest approach to Saipan pm Saturday night.
Saipan, Tinian and Agrihan were forecast to take the brunt of the storm, with the US National Weather Service saying damaging winds could knock down trees, triggering power outages.
