- The 21st storm of 2025 to hit the Philippines makes landfall.
- Two died from drowning and debris caused by heavy rain and wind.
- Pope Leo offers prayers for a majority Catholic nation.
ISABELA: Super Typhoon Fung-Wong made landfall in the Philippines on Sunday, leaving two dead and a million people evacuated ahead of one of the country’s most powerful storms this year.
The storm crossed the north of the archipelago’s most populous island, Luzon, weather bureau PAGASA said, with torrential rain, sustained winds of 185 km/h (115 mph) and gusts of up to 230 km/h (140 mph).
It was the 21st storm this year to hit a country still recovering from Typhoon Kalmaegi, which killed 224 people in the Philippines and five in Vietnam.
“We heard on the news that the typhoon was very strong, so we evacuated early,” said Christopher Sanchez, 50, who was camping with his family at a basketball court in Luzon’s Isabela province.
Given the previous floods, the family moved their belongings onto their roof before leaving. “We are afraid. We are here with our grandchildren and our children,” he said in the sports arena dotted with tents, elderly people on plastic chairs and children wandering around.
Death
Luzon and another island, Eastern Visayas, were hardest hit by the storm, with one person drowning and another trapped under debris, authorities said.
The storm was expected to weaken as it moved inland.
Pope Leo offered prayers for the predominantly Catholic nation. “I am close to the people of the Philippines affected by a violent typhoon. I pray for the deceased and their families, for the injured and the displaced,” he said on Sunday.
In Aurora province on the island of Luzon, where the storm arrived, the lights went out but phone lines were still working, civil defense official Cheng Quizon told DZBB radio.
Several airports, including Sangley near the capital Manila and Bicol to the south, were closed.
Fung-Wong is expected to track toward the northern Philippines and reach coastal waters Monday morning while remaining a typhoon, PAGASA said, before heading out to sea and weakening as it reaches western Taiwan on Thursday.
