MANILA (NYTIMES) – A typhoon packing winds of nearly 160 kmh was heading towards the central Philippines on Thursday (May 14), gathering strength as it swept across the Pacific Ocean, the state weather bureau said.

Typhoon Vongfong was travelling slowly westwards at about 16 kmh, with its eye passing on Thursday near the province of Northern Samar in the eastern Philippines, according to the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa).

Forecasters predicted that it could dump torrential rains by Saturday across a wide area of the Philippines, including possibly Luzon, the country’s largest island, which has a population of 60 million and includes the capital, Manila.

Much of the island remains on lockdown because of the coronavirus epidemic, which could complicate emergency efforts should the storm strike the island with particular force.

“Definitely this is going to add to our emergency situation,” said Mr Harry Roque, a spokesman for President Rodrigo Duterte.

“While the areas expected to be hit by the typhoon are not heavily ravaged by Covid-19, we have set some guidelines.”

He said that any families taken to evacuation areas would have to observe strict social distancing guidelines. But judging from evacuations during previous typhoons, he conceded that “enforcing that would be a challenge”.

The country’s civil defence office said the storm could cause some damage to houses made of light materials, and it advised those living along shorelines to move to shelters.

Weather officials said the storm was gathering force on Thursday.

“Further intensification remains likely before the typhoon makes landfall,” Pagasa, the weather agency, said in an advisory on Thursday morning. “Along with large swells, this storm surge may cause potentially life-threatening coastal inundation.”

The Philippines sits in a typhoon belt, and at least 20 storms – some of them deadly – typically ravage the country every year.

In 2003, more than 6,000 people were killed when Super Typhoon Haiyan caused widespread devastation, mostly in the central city of Tacloban, which was inundated by massive tidal swells.

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