Schools in the northern Philippines were ordered to close on Tuesday – a day after many resumed in-person learning for the first time since the outbreak of Covid-19 – as torrential rains and strong winds battered the archipelago’s main island.
The severe tropical storm Ma-on hit the northeast coast of Luzon in the morning and devastated the largely agricultural region with gusts of up to 185 kilometers per hour, the national weather service said.
Two people were injured by falling trees in mountainous Cagayan province, where torrential rain caused the main river and its tributaries to swell overnight, provincial disaster management officer Ruelie Rasping said.
“We are currently being hit by strong winds and heavy rain. The Cagayan River is rising,” Rasping told AFP.
The provincial capital Tuguegarao was drenched by 98 millimeters (3.9 inches) of “torrential” rain for a period of three hours after the storm made landfall, an official with the state weather bureau told AFP.
Ma-on was expected to sweep across the country in a northwesterly direction and fly out over the South China Sea late Tuesday or early Wednesday.
Some low-lying areas of the capital Manila were knee-deep in water as the storm intensified the southwest monsoon.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. suspended classes and work at government offices in the capital region and surrounding provinces until Wednesday, his spokeswoman said.
It followed similar orders issued by provinces in Ma-on’s path.
The Philippines, which is among the countries hardest hit by the effects of climate change, is hit by an average of 20 storms each year.
Ma-on was the first significant since April, when Tropical Storm Megi triggered landslides and flooding that killed more than 200 people, mostly on the central island of Leyte.
Ma-on slammed a day after classrooms for face-to-face classes reopened in the Philippines, more than two years after the pandemic broke out.
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