Typhoon Koppu is forecast to dump yet more rain on the Philippines’ largest island as authorities said that 16 people had already been killed in the north of the country as a result of the extreme weather.
Meteorological experts on Monday said that with the constant supply of moisture from the South China Sea, Koppu was expected cause more flooding on the island of Luzon. Koppu, the second strongest storm to hit the disaster-plagued Southeast Asian archipelago this year, has forced more than 60,000 people from their homes, according to authorities.
The storm, downgraded to a category 1 typhoon from category 4, was moving slowly north on Monday, expected to wander up the west of Luzon. “With little to guide its course, it looks as though Koppu will wander up the western side of Luzon … for the next two days,” Rob McElwee, Al Jazeera’s senior weather correspondent, said.
“The projected track of Koppu is close to a worst-case scenario for catastrophic rainfall across northern Luzon, home to more than 10 million people,” he said. Residents of flooded farming villages were trapped on their rooftops on Monday and animals floated down fast-rising rivers.
