Philippines Shuts Schools, Sends Supplies as Typhoon Approaches

Oct. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Philippines authorities ordered schools to close and stockpiled relief goods throughout Luzon, as Typhoon Mirinae bore down on the archipelago, where about 1,100 people have died in tropical cyclones this year.

Primary and secondary schools in most parts of Luzon were suspended after Storm Signal No. 2 was raised for the island, the National Disaster Coordinating Council said on its Web site today. The signal means winds of between 60 and 100 kilometers (60 miles) per hour are expected.

The Philippines has been battered by more than 10 cyclones this year, according to the council’s Web site. More than 121,000 people remain in evacuation centers after two cyclones barreled into Luzon, the most populous island, since Sept. 26.

Mirinae’s eye was located 547 kilometers east of the city of Casiguran on eastern Luzon at 4 a.m. local time today, the Philippines weather office said.

The storm has maximum sustained winds of 150 kph, with gusts to 185 kph, and was moving west-southwest at 22 kph, the office said.

Mirinae, referred to as Santi in the Philippines, is forecast to make landfall east of Manila after 2 a.m. tomorrow and sweep across the capital before heading over the South China Sea, according to the agency’s forecast.

The typhoon’s expected landfall coincides with All Saints’ weekend, when many Filipinos travel by boat and other means to their home provinces.

The Philippine Coast Guard yesterday sent rescue divers to the eastern coast of Luzon and to areas on the western coast where Mirinae is forecast to exit the island.

As many as 800 people were killed after a ferry sank in June last year when Typhoon Fengshen slammed into the archipelago of more than 7,000 islands.