MANILA, 23 November 2007 — Thousands of people packed temporary shelters in the eastern region of Bicol yesterday as a massive evacuation went into high gear from towns expected to be directly along the path of Typhoon Mitag.

Officials said close to 46,000 people have been moved to shelters yesterday in 15 towns around Mayon Volcano in Albay province, about 340 kilometers (213 miles) southeast of Manila, and the evacuation was continuing.

Mitag, locally codenamed Mina, was packing 140 kilometers per hour (88 mph) winds with gusts of up to 170 kph (106 mph) as it blew westward from the Philippine Sea at 15 kph (9 mph) toward the Bicol region around 4 p.m. (0800 GMT), said Nathaniel Cruz, chief of the weather bureau PAGASA.

Cruz said the typhoon was expected to hit Bicol and could pass through Southern Luzon and metropolitan Manila.

Weather forecaster Nonoy About was quoted by the Inquirer News Service as saying there was a possibility that the typhoon could turn into a super howler as it “continues to strengthen.”

A storm’s maximum sustained winds must reach 215 kilometers per hour before it is classified as a super typhoon, About said.

In Sorsogon province, south of Albay, more than 900 people also were evacuated, mostly from villages in Irosin town, which is often hit by mudslides from nearby Bulusan Volcano.

Another 2,275 people also fled flooded communities in Camarines Sur province.

Camarines Sur, Albay and Sorsogon are among the six provinces of the Bicol region on the southern tip of the main Philippine island of Luzon.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, worried about a repeat of last year’s disaster, has ordered mass evacuations in the typhoon’s expected path and cut short her trip to Singapore, where she was attending an Asian summit.

Cruz said if the typhoon doesn’t change direction, it will hit Bicol by Saturday morning or veer northwest and make landfall in Quezon province farther north the next day.

The typhoon is also enhancing northeast monsoon rains, drenching the eastern Philippines, he said.

Albay Gov. Joey Salceda has suspended classes so some schools can be used as temporary shelters.

Cedric Daep, executive officer of the provincial disaster office, said full evacuation of the most threatened communities along the coastline and in the foothills of the Mayon volcano will begin yesterday afternoon.

If the storm would hit Bicol directly, another 10,000 people in coastal areas will be evacuated, said said Glenn Rabonza, administrator of the Office of Civil Defense.

“The problem there is storm surge. With the strong winds, the waves could reach three to 10 meters high and could wreak havoc on coastal villages,” Rabonza said, adding that the mountainous villages soaked by rains for the past days were also “ripe for landslides.”

Typhoon Hagibis (local code name: Lando), which was forecast to hit Vietnam at the weekend, left 13 people dead in the southern and central Philippines, including seven people buried in landslides in Surigao del Norte province in the main southern island of Mindanao.

Officials estimate up to 200,000 people may have to be evacuated in Albay, which last year bore the brunt of Typhoon Durian that triggered flash floods and unleashed tons of volcanic debris, wiping out entire communities and killing more than 1,000 people.

About the same number of people died in 2004 in Quezon when it was hit by successive storms and typhoons. (With input from INS & Agencies)