Philippine authorities on Friday prepared evacuation plans and deployed emergency teams and relief supplies as Typhoon Koppu barrelled towards the country's north-eastern coast, dpa reported. Koppu was packing maximum winds of 130 kilometres per hour (kph) and gusts of up to 160 kph as it moved west at a speed of 15 kph, the weather bureau said. The typhoon was expected to bring heavy to intense rains over an area 550 kilometres in diameter, the bureau warned. Storm signal warnings were raised over 19 northern and eastern provinces ahead of Koppu's possible landfall on either Saturday evening or Sunday morning. "We are ready to evacuate residents if needed," said Norma Talosig, director of a regional civil defence office covering some of the northern provinces being threatened by Koppu.
