Philippines braces for powerful tropical storm
Pastor Dale Morgan
Philippines braces for powerful tropical storm*
MANILA, June 20 (AFP) Jun 20, 2008
A powerful tropical storm was sweeping across the Philippine Sea on
Friday and was expected to lash the eastern edge of the country over the
weekend, the government weather station said.
At 4:00 am Friday (2000 GMT Thursday), the storm named Fengshen was 180
kilometres (288 miles) east of the central island of Samar, moving at 15
kilometres an hour northwest, the weather bureau said.
Fengshen, packing maximum sustained winds of 110 kilometres per hour
with gusts of 140 kilometres, was forecast to pass along the eastern
side of the central and northern Philippines over the next three days,
the bureau said.
Heavy rains brought by the storm have caused slight flooding in parts of
the country, but no casualties or damage have been reported.
Authorities have issued a major storm alert for Samar island, with lower
level alerts going out for surrounding islands and provinces.
Every year, hundreds of people die in the Philippines due to floods and
landslides caused by tropical storms or typhoons that sweep in from the
Pacific.