Philippines: Super Typhoon Noru/ Karding Flash Update No.2 (As of 26 September 2022, 8 p.m. local time)

Situation Overview

Response and clearing operations are underway after Super Typhoon Noru (local name Karding) swept through Luzon on 25 and 26 September. As one of the strongest typhoons to have formed this year, preliminary information from the affected areas of Quezon and Aurora provinces indicates destructive wind damage in some areas of initial landfall, possibly affecting majority of houses in Polillo Islands. The storm also brought torrential rains with parts of Bulacan and Pampanga currently inundated with flood waters from the Sierra Madre Mountain range and the nearby dams.

As per initial government data, more than 2,400 families were pre-emptively evacuated. Thirty-four evacuation centers are operational, with reports of some evacuees already heading home. Five casualties have been reported so far, all of whom were rescuers on patrol from the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office of Bulacan.

As the eyewall passed Polillo Islands, and prior to its landfall in the vicinity of General Nakar-Dingalan area in Quezon province, Karding maintained its super typhoon strength. It remained a typhoon as it traversed across the Sierra Madre mountain range before exiting the landmass in the early hours of 26 September. All storm warning signals have been lifted as Karding entered the West Philippine Sea. The storm is expected to exit the Philippine Area of Responsibility by 27 September.