Philippines halts search for typhoon dead as huge new storm nears

MANILA: Rescue work was suspended and preemptive evacuations began Saturday as Typhoon Fung-wong bore down on the Philippines, days after another storm killed at least 204 people.

Fung-wong, expected to be a “super typhoon” before making landfall, bears a huge footprint, with a radius that could cover “almost the entire country,” a government meteorologist said.

“Apart from the strong winds, we can also expect heavy rains … 200 millimetres (eight inches) or higher rainfall, which can cause widespread flooding, not just in low-lying areas,” meteorologist Benison Estareja told a press briefing Saturday.

“It’s also possible that our major river basins will overflow.”

As of 11 am (0300 GMT), the typhoon was moving westward toward the Philippines’ main island of Luzon, with wind speeds of 140 kilometres per hour and gusts of 170 kph.

In coastal Aurora province, where Fung-wong is expected to make landfall by late Sunday or early Monday morning, rescuers were going door to door encouraging residents to head for higher ground.

“We are preemptively evacuating people in areas that may be high-risk for flooding,” provincial rescuer Elson Egargue told AFP by phone.

Farther south, on Catanduanes, a small island the state weather service said could take a “direct hit”, residents were tying down their houses and putting weights on their roofs.

“They decided to do our tradition of strapping down the roofs with big ropes and anchoring them on the ground, so they won’t be blown away by the wind,” provincial rescue official Roberto Monterola told AFP.

Earlier this week, Typhoon Kalmaegi sent floodwaters rushing through the towns and cities of Cebu province, sweeping away cars, riverside shanties and massive shipping containers.

The typhoon, the deadliest of 2025 according to disaster database EM-DAT, killed at least 204 people and left 109 missing, according to the latest government figures.

At least five more people were killed as it churned across Vietnam on Friday.

On Saturday, rescue official Myrra Daven told AFP the approaching storm had forced the suspension of search and rescue activities in the province, home to nearly 70 percent of Kalmaegi’s deaths.

“We were ordered to temporarily stop the search, rescue and retrieval at 3 pm today,” she said.

“We cannot risk the safety of our rescuers. We don’t want them to be the next casualties.”

The government tally of 57 missing in the hard-hit province, meanwhile, would likely rise, Daven said.

“We’re expecting this number to increase, because there are still areas we cannot penetrate. Some access routes are still blocked by soil and other things,” she said.

Farther north, provincial officials in Typhoon Fung-wong’s path are focused on preventing similar loss of life.

“We are hoping that there will be no casualties,” said Monterola, the Catanduanes rescuer.

“The Philippines has faced a lot of disasters already.”