Super Typhoon Fung-wong is headed towards Taiwan after causing extensive damage in the Philippines and killing at least four people on its way out of the Southeast Asian country.
Fung-wong, one of the most powerful storms to hit the Philippines this year, brought howling winds, heavy rainfall and storm swells on the most populous island of Luzon that left some sleepless through the night on Sunday.
The typhoon arrived while the country was still dealing with the devastation wrought by Typhoon Kalmaegi, which left 224 people dead in the central provinces on Tuesday before pummelling and killing at least five more in Vietnam.
Fung-wong slammed ashore in Aurora province on Sunday night as a super typhoon with sustained winds of up to 185kmph and gusts of up to 230kmph.
"We could not sleep because of the winds hitting our metal sheets and tree branches falling," said Romeo Mariano, who sheltered with his grandmother in their home in the province of Isabela. "When we got out to check our home, we saw the damage."
The storm, some 1,800km wide, weakened as it raked through mountainous northern provinces and agricultural plains overnight before blowing away from the province of La Union into the South China Sea, according to state forecasters.
A mudslide caused by heavy rain buried a house and killed two children in the northern town of Kayapa in Nueva Vizcaya province, a regional civil defence official, Alvin Ayson said, by telephone.
Another person drowned in flash floods in the eastern province of Catanduanes and a fourth died in Catbalogan city in eastern Samar province when her house collapsed on her, officials said.
By Monday, Fung-wong was packing relatively slower winds of 130-160kmph but it remained a typhoon whose outer bands could dump rain in coastal areas and trigger storm surges.
It was forecast to hit Taiwan's densely populated western coast on Wednesday, though its heaviest rain was expected along the mountainous east coast, where 18 people died in flooding unleashed by another typhoon in September.
The Taiwanese government ordered evacuations in the town of Guangfu, the scene of those deadly floods two months ago. The fire department said it was coordinating with local agencies to ensure disaster response personnel and equipment were on standby.
From Monday night through Tuesday, the storm is forecast to bring heavy rain to the coastal areas of Keelung, the Greater Taipei area, the eastern half of Taiwan, and the Hengchun Peninsula in the south, according to the Central Weather Administration.
Heavy rain is expected to lash the central and southern parts of the island, the agency added.
