MANILA — All shipping was ordered to remain in harbor and some flights were canceled in the northern Philippines, while schools were closed in the capital, Manila, on Monday due to flooding and landslides from a tropical storm, disaster officials said. Storm warnings were issued in at least 14 areas of the main Philippine island of Luzon as tropical storm Linfa moved slowly across the north of the Southeast Asian archipelago. It was carrying maximum wind gusts of 100 km per hour (60 mph).
Alexander Pama, executive director of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, said the storm would bring heavy rain within a 400-km (250 miles) radius. The storm was named Egay in the Philippines.
“We are grounding all sea travel and fishing operations in the north because we expect sea waves to go as high as 4 meters (13 feet), Pama said. “We don't want any lose of life or any accidents,” he said.
Army units had been placed on standby to evacuate people to temporary shelters if needed, Pama said.
The government was expecting some crop damage in rice-producing areas in northern Luzon. Linfa made landfall in the north of the island on Saturday and was about 135 km (85 miles) southwest of Laoag City in Luzon's far north on Monday.
An average of 20 typhoons pass through the Philippines every year. Haiyan, the strongest typhoon ever to make landfall in the Philippines, killed more than 6,300 people and left 1,000 missing in 2013.
Meanwhile, the Chinese ambassador says Beijing has stood pat in its decision to reject international arbitration to resolve a disagreement with the Philippines over the South China Sea.
An international tribunal in The Hague will start formal hearings Tuesday to address China's contention that the five-member arbitration body does not have authority to assume jurisdiction over Manila's complaint against Beijing.
Ambassador Zhao Jianhua told reporters Monday that Beijing would stick to its decision not to participate in arbitration and instead renewed China's offer to resolve the conflict through one-on one-negotiation with the Philippines.
In its complaint, the Philippines has asked the tribunal to declare China's claims to much of the South China Sea as invalid under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. — Agencies
