Strong typhoon blows closer to northern Philippines, forcing evacuations

A powerful typhoon blew closer to the northern Philippines on Tuesday, forcing thousands to evacuate and halting sea travel amid warnings of torrential rains and tidal surges up to 3 meters .
The strongest winds at the storm’s center are expected to remain offshore as Typhoon Doksuri barrels northwest off Cagayan and Batanes provinces, but they may slam into or pass close to Cagayan’s outlying Babuyan Islands in the Luzon Strait, which has been placed under the highest of a five-step cyclonic wind warning system.
Under alert level five, “the situation is potentially very destructive to the community,” the weather bureau said, and warned the ferocious winds pose “extreme threat to life and property.”
The typhoon’s 680-kilometer -wide rainband could cause flash floods and set off landslides in mountainous northern provinces.
Doksuri was last tracked 190 kilometers (118 miles) east of Aparri town in Cagayan province with sustained winds of 185 kilometers (115 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 230 kph (143 mph).