CNN News reported just today (Nov-23) that the Philippine government has raised the possibility that Mitag -- or Mina, as it's called in the Philippines -- could strike as a super-typhoon, a storm equivalent to a Category 4 or Category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Currently, the storm is just shy of a Category 3 storm.
Flood-ravaged regions in the nation are already struggling to recover from a typhoon that hit just four days earlier: Tropical Storm Hagibis which is now heading toward Vietnam.
At midday, Mitag was packing 175 kilometer per hour (109 mile per hour) winds, with gusts of 210 kph (131 mph), according to The Associated Press.
It was poised to hit the southern portion of Luzon, the northernmost of the Philippines' island groups, sometime this weekend, forecasters said. Winds could reach a Category 4 strength of 213 kph (132 mph) early Sunday, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center said.
More than 194,000 people have fled or been evacuated to temporary shelters, AP quoted disaster officials as saying.
Earlier, at 2:20 a.m. (5:20 p.m. ET), Mitag was about 645 kilometers (400 miles) east of Manila, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center said.
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