Philippines braces for Typhoon Utor

More than 3,000 passengers have been stranded on piers in the north-east of the Philippines as ferry services are suspended because of an approaching typhoon.

A Filipino worker folds a billboard ad that shows Antonio Spurs Tony Parker as people brace for Typhoon Utor in Manila.

MANILA // More than 3,000 passengers were stranded on piers in the north-east of the Philippines yesterday as ferry services were suspended because of an approaching typhoon.

Government forecasters said that Typhoon Utor, with winds of 150 kph and gusts up to 185 kph, could gather strength over the Philippine Sea before it slams into the north-eastern Aurora province today.

Typhoon alerts have been issued in several northern provinces, including in the capital, Manila, warning residents to brace for possible floods and landslides.

"This is forecast to be the strongest storm to make landfall so far this year," said Vicente Malano, the state weather bureau chief.

Utor, moving north-west at 19 kilometres per hour, was forecast to dump up to 25 millimetres of rain an hour within a 600-kilometre diameter of the typhoon, the bureau said.

"Residents in low-lying and mountainous areas ... are alerted against possible flash floods and landslides," it said.

The Philippines is hit by about 20 storms and typhoons each year, ome of them devastating.

Nearly 2,000 were killed or went missing in flash floods and landslides when Typhoon Bopha cut across the southern island of Mindanao in December last year.

About 850,000 people were also displaced, and many of them remain in temporary shelters months after the typhoon.

* With additional reporting by Agence France-Presse