Typhoon Rai bears down on the Philippines

The typhoon slammed into the Siargao Islands of southeast Philippines on Thursday with sustained winds of 115 miles per hour and gusts of up to 143 miles per hour. Disaster-response officials said about 10,000 villages lie in the 248-mile projected path of the typhoon.

How have authorities prepared? The government’s disaster-response agency evacuated more than 98,000 people before the storm hit. The coast guard grounded all vessels, while authorities also canceled domestic flights. The storm halted vaccination efforts even as the country confirmed its first case of the omicron variant this week. The Philippines has recorded more than 2.8 million COVID-19 infections and more than 50,000 deaths.

Dig deeper: From the WORLD archives, read my report in The Sift on Typhoon Goni’s impact on the Philippines last year.