Manila: Typhoon Megi was gathering strength as it moved towards the north of the Philippines' main island of Luzon on Saturday, and the government moved emergency workers and relief goods to rice- and corn-production areas.
A category 3 typhoon with winds of 140kph, Megi was about 980km east of northern Luzon and moving at 20kph west northwest towards northern Cagayan province, said Nathaniel Servando, a weather bureau official.
"So far, this would be the strongest typhoon to hit the country this year," Servando said, although he added there could be much stronger storms in coming months.
Last year, the country lost 1.3 million tonnes of paddy rice following three strong typhoons in September and October, prompting it to go to the market early to boost its rice stocks.
Megi was expected to develop into a category 4 typhoon on Saturday evening, Servando said, packing maximum winds of up to 200 kph and dumping rains as heavy as typhoon Ketsana, which inundated 80 per cent of Manila in 2009.
Known locally as Juan, the typhoon was expected to reach northern Luzon on Monday afternoon and head out to the South China Sea on Tuesday, moving towards Hainan and northern Vietnam.
The storm is not expected to hit the capital hard unless it changes direction unexpectedly.
Weather forecasters said Megi would be felt in northern Luzon, where rice and corn are important crops, by Sunday afternoon.
Benito Ramos, head of the national disaster agency, said the government could order an evacuation in areas where Megi was expected to cause landslides, storm surges and flash floods in low-lying areas in the north's rice-and-corn areas.
Emergency workers, including soldiers, police and firemen, were on stand-by for rescue and relief operations, he said.
