Chebi sweeps across Philippine island of Luzon by Laura Gilchrist
Typhoon Chebi crossed the northern Philippines on Saturday causing flooding, damaging crops and downing power lines and trees.
With steady winds exceeding 120 mph (195 km/h) and even stronger gusts, Chebi made landfall in eastern Luzon, the largest island in the Philippines. Chebi had strengthened prior to landfall but the Sierra Madre mountain range on Luzon’s eastern side acted to weaken the typhoon as it passed, reducing its winds to around 85 mph (135 km/h).
The winds reportedly brought down trees and power lines, hampering communications between Luzon’s disaster management teams. Heavy rainfall also caused problems, flooding rice fields with over a metre of water and threatening the harvest. With the ground already sodden by the recent procession of tropical cyclones, including Typhoon Cimaron just last week, authorities warned the public of the threat of further landslides.
Typhoon Chebi is set to move out into the South China Sea later on Saturday, and gain strength again west of Luzon. The current forecast suggests the storm will eventually weaken over cooler waters as it approaches the Chinese island of Hainan in a few days’ time.
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