Typhoon Hagupit was expected to make landfall around 11 p.m. Saturday on eastern Samar Island, then cut a path to the west. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 115 miles per hour near its center on Saturday morning, according to Philippine government forecasters, and it was expected to bring rain across a 350-mile-wide swath of the country.
The storm is weaker than Typhoon Haiyan, which left more than 7,300 people dead after it slammed into the Philippines in November 2013. But Hagupit still poses a significant threat. One major concern is that the typhoon is forecast to take up to three days to grind its way across the central Philippines, dumping heavy rains over a wide area...
Fishermen tried to secure a boat in the city of Legazpi before the arrival of a powerful storm that was expected to make landfall on Saturday.Philippines Braces for Arrival of Typhoon HagupitDEC. 5, 2014
“The big difference, if we’re a doing comparison between Haiyan and Hagupit, is the wind speeds are less, but it’s still extremely severe,” said Justin Morgan, Philippines country director for the aid group Oxfam. “It is also traveling at much slower pace than Typhoon Haiyan. That mean it will stay over locations for a longer period of time, bring more wind, more rain, more chances of flooding and landslides.”
