The northern Philippines was then hit again on Monday, this time by Typhoon Toraji. It has since eased in intensity but remains at tropical storm strength as it moves towards southern China, where it is expected to bring widespread heavy rain.

MANILA: The Philippines ordered evacuations ahead of Typhoon Usagi on Wednesday (Nov 13), as the UN disaster office sought US$32.9 million in aid for the country after storms that killed more than 150 people.

The Philippines has scrambled to deal with multiple calamities wreaked by four back-to-back typhoons and storms in less than a month.

The last two typhoons and a tropical storm caused more than 160 deaths, damaged thousands of houses and farmlands and affected more than 9 million people, including hundreds of thousands who fled to emergency shelters, after dumping from one to two months’ worth of rain in just 24 hours in some cities and towns.

This is the dramatic moment a concrete home collapsed into a river during Typhoon Toraji in the Philippines. The single-storey concrete house crumbled as the nearby river eroded its foundations in Baggao town in storm-battered Cagayan province on the evening of November 11.