A strong typhoon struck the central Philippines Monday, forcing some 750,000 people to evacuate from their homes and disrupting dozens of transport plans.
Typhoon Melor, known locally as Nona, first made landfall in the small eastern island of Batag with winds of up to 95 miles per hour. Heavy rain and floods reached 13 feet high, the Associated Press reported.
Some 40 domestic flights were grounded and hundreds of ferries and fishing boats were ordered to remain in port -- leaving an estimated 8,000 people stranded across the country, Reuters reports. The Philippines national disaster management agency confirmed many schools had closed.
No casualties had been recorded so far, Philippine Red Cross chairman Richard Gordon told the BBC Monday morning. Photographs and videos show government and aid organizations opening evacuation shelters and providing relief goods. The Red Cross posted instructions on Twitter on how residents can stay safe from storms.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration forecasts the typhoon will continue its sweep across the country on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Melor follows the same path as that of Typhoon Haiyan, which killed over 5,000 people in November 2013. About 20 major typhoons hit the nation composed of 7,107 islands every year.
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