Philippines starts massive evacuations as huge typhoon nears

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine authorities began evacuating thousands of people Thursday in the path of the most powerful typhoon this year, closing schools, readying bulldozers for landslides and placing rescuers and troops on full alert in the country's north. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center in Hawaii categorized the storm as a super typhoon with powerful winds and gusts. Forecasters said Typhoon Mangkhut could hit northeastern Cagayan province on Saturday. It was tracked on Thursday about 725 kilometers (450 miles) away in the Pacific with sustained winds of 205 kilometers (127 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 255 kph (158 mph), they said.