FILE photo. The Philippines is hit by an average of 20 storms and typhoons each year, routinely striking disaster-prone areas where millions of people live in poverty. - Photo: AFP file
MANILA: Thousands of residents of a Philippine island left their homes along the Pacific coast Saturday (Oct 18) as weather experts warned of coastal flooding ahead of the approach of Tropical Storm Fengshen, rescue officials said.
The eye of the storm was forecast to brush past Catanduanes, an impoverished island of 270,000 people, later in the day with gusts of up to 80 kilometres (50 miles) an hour.
