Thousands flee as Typhoon Usagi hits north Philippines

Typhoon Usagi slammed into the Philippines' already disaster-ravaged north on Thursday, as authorities rushed to evacuate thousands of people from flood-prone areas.

The fifth storm to strike the country in just three weeks, Usagi made landfall in the town of Baggao in Cagayan province at 0530 GMT, packing winds of 175 kmph, the national weather service said.

The brutal wave of weather disasters has already killed 159 people and prompted the United Nations to request $32.9 million in aid for the worst-affected regions.

The national weather agency had initially raised its highest storm alert, but downgraded to its second-highest as Usagi made landfall.

It weakened to 165 km an hour as it ploughed north to the municipality of Gonzaga and open waters beyond it.

Baggao police said no casualties or substantial damage were immediately reported, while 28 residents of a village were evacuated amid concern it would get flooded.

"It was weaker than we expected," a relieved police officer, Karen Ibarra, told AFP by phone.

President Ferdinand Marcos, visiting storm-affected areas to dole out emergency cash aid, urged residents to comply with evacuation orders.

"We know that it is difficult to leave your homes and possessions but sheltering could save lives," he told residents of Mindoro island south of the capital Manila, according to an official transcript of his speech.

"While we cannot prevent typhoons from hitting the country, we can take steps to reduce their impact," he said, calling for better infrastructure to cope with worsening storm effects he blamed on climate change.

Elsewhere in Cagayan, officials worked in driving rain on Thursday to evacuate residents along the coasts and on the banks of already swollen rivers.

"Yesterday it was preemptive evacuations. Now we're doing forced evacuations," local disaster official Edward Gaspar told AFP by phone hours before landfall, adding 1,404 residents were sheltering at a municipal gym in Gonzaga.

Cagayan's civil defence chief Rueli Rapsing said he expected local governments to take 40,000 people to shelters, roughly the same number that were removed from their homes ahead of Typhoon Yinxing earlier this month.

He said more than 5,000 Cagayan residents were still in shelters following the previous storms because the Cagayan river, the country's largest, remained swollen from heavy rain that fell in several provinces upstream.

After Usagi, Severe Tropical Storm Man-yi is forecast to strike the densely-populated capital Manila on Sunday.