Philippines braces for fifth major storm in a month

The Philippines issued fresh evacuations on Tuesday ahead of Tropical Storm Usagi, the fifth major storm set to hit the country in a month. 

The government said it had evacuated more than 32,000 people from vulnerable areas in the northern Philippines ahead of Typhoon Toraji's Monday landfall, weeks after Severe Tropical Storm Trami, Typhoon Yinxing and Super Typhoon Kong-rey killed a combined 159 people.

The majority of the fatalities were from Trami, which caused flash floods and landslides. 

Usagi has strengthened to 85 kilometres (53 miles) an hour and may start affecting the region late in the day and reach typhoon category by Wednesday, a day ahead of landfall, it added.

"Areas in northern Luzon are at risk of heavy rainfall, severe wind, and, possibly, storm surge inundation from (Usagi) which may cause considerable impacts," the weather service said in a fresh bulletin, using a term for giant coastal waves.

Utility workers on Tuesday repaired damaged bridges, restored electricity and cleared roads blocked by landslides, fallen trees and power pylons, the civil defence office said.

"A small number of people were preemptively evacuated but they have since returned home. Classes at the collegiate level have resumed," civil defence official Randy Nicolas of Ilocos Norte province on Luzon's South China Sea coast told AFP.

After Usagi, the weather service said Tropical Storm Man-yi, currently near the Northern Mariana Islands, may also threaten the Philippines next week.

A recent study showed that storms in the Asia-Pacific region are increasingly forming closer to coastlines, intensifying more rapidly and lasting longer over land due to climate change.