Super Typhoon Fung-wong weakens, heads towards Taiwan after displacing millions in the Philippines

SUPER Typhoon Fung-wong weakened on Monday as it departed the Philippines over the South China Sea after killing at least two people and forcing more than a million people to evacuate.

With a footprint that spanned nearly the entirety of the island country, Fung-wong slammed into the eastern seaboard of the Philippines on Sunday evening as a “super typhoon” after uprooting trees and swamping towns further south.

The now-weakened typhoon is expected to turn towards Taiwan as it continues to weaken, said the state weather service on Monday.

Typhoon Fung-wong landed just days after Typhoon Kalmaegi swept through the islands of the central Philippines, claiming at least 224 lives.

Scientists warn that storms are becoming more powerful due to human-driven climate change. Warmer oceans allow typhoons to strengthen rapidly, and a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, meaning heavier rainfall.

‘The ground was shaking’: Resident

Catanduanes was lashed by heavy wind and rain early Sunday, with storm surges sending waves hurtling over streets and floodwaters inundating homes in some areas.

"The waves started roaring around 7:00 am. When the waves hit the seawall, it felt like the ground was shaking," Edson Casarino, 33, a resident of Catanduanes' Virac town, told AFP.

Major flooding was also reported in southern Luzon's Bicol region.

Only days earlier, Typhoon Kalmaegi sent floodwaters rushing through the towns and cities of Cebu and Negros islands, sweeping away cars, riverside shanties and massive shipping containers.

Search and rescue efforts in Cebu were suspended on Saturday due to safety concerns over the approaching super typhoon.

On Sunday, Samar province, one of those hammered by Typhoon Kalmaegi last week, recorded the first known death from Fung-wong. Rescuer Juniel Tagarino in Catbalogan City told AFP the body of a 64-year-old woman attempting to evacuate had been pulled out from under debris and fallen trees.

“The wind was so strong, and the rain was heavy... According to her family members, she might have forgotten something and gone back inside her house,” Tagarino said.

The civil defence office later confirmed a second death, a person who drowned in a flash flood on Catanduanes Island.